Back about the turn of the century I served on a state advisory council with a highway patrol lieutenant who supervised anti-drug efforts. I bought him a T-shirt…
D. A. R. E.
Drugs Are Really Expensive
He loved the shirt and wore it to ‘official’ events.
The other day I got an email regarding my Costco-linked VISA card, informing me that ‘several’ of my purchases qualified for Flex Pay, basically a multi-month payment option with a lower interest rate than the card normally takes.
I looked over my account: aside from a couple of tanks of gas, a bundle of paper towels and a tube of Parmesan cheese, all my purchases in the previous month were for prescription drugs.
Yes, drugs are so expensive that even with decent insurance they can be financed.
A few months back I bought a name brand 55-inch Smart TV at Costco for $359.99: in early September, my share for a three-month supply of Eliquis – one of the most consumed prescription drugs in America – came to $358! (The drug’s total price hit $2,200.)
I need to get that T-shirt…
Eliquis gets my goat because Congress and the Food and Drug Administration conspired to give its manufacturers several additional years of patent protection. You see, the FDA approved generic formulations for Eliquis in 2019. Under regular rules by now Eliquis ought to be a generic medication costing around $80 a month. Thanks to intervention, it may be 2031 before Americans can get generic Eliquis.
What’s that in dollars?
Bristol Myers Squibb brought in $12.2 billion in 2023 from blockbuster blood clot drug Eliquis, and has now made over $69 billion on Eliquis since launching the drug in 2012. Eliquis costs U.S. customers 3–7x more than customers in other high-income countries. — Protect Our Care
Time for credit where credit is due. The Biden – Harris administration negotiated lower prices for Eliquis and nine other drugs, starting on 2026. It’s expected the United States Medicare price for Eliquis – while still under patent restrictions – will drop to about $693 for a three-month supply. While a substantial drop from current prices, well, without insurance it would still qualify for Flex Pay.
Republicans, of course, don’t like the government negotiating drug prices. They want even the modest Biden discounts to disappear.
In other words, Drugs Are Really Expensive. They’ll cost even more if Donald Trump and his ilk get elected. Republicans have no problem letting Big Pharma prosper while those who need their drugs get robbed.
Help all of us save money…vote a straight Democrat ticket next month.
Glenn
Title Image was drafted with Microsoft Image Creator