Response on Prescription Drug Prices

I am required to respond to the below post, 1- 1/2 a paragraph is good with atleast 2 referneces. Prescription Drug Prices It has been reported that one in four people in the United States (US) have difficulty paying for their monthly prescriptions and spend over $100 or more per month (Curfman et al., 2020). The prescription drug industry has been deemed relentless in price gouging medications (Curfman et al., 2020). Most probably remember the EpiPen price gouging, leaving many Americans without a living saving medication at hand. Some were forced to save and use expired medications. There has also been an ongoing issue with the cost of insulin, leaving many people with diabetes with the only option to ration medication to avoid completely running out. Due to the burden of prescription drug prices on Americans, the government has begun acting. President Bush took action in office regarding prescription drug accessibility and reformed Medicare’s prescription drug benefit (The White House, n.d.). This was said to provide more than 40 million Americans with better access to prescription drugs (The White House, n.d.) Additionally, President Bush created a tax-free Health Savings Account that allows Americans to have tax-free money to go into an account that can be used to pay for medical expenses such as prescriptions (The White House, n.d.). Like President Bush, President Obama promised Americans he would create a way to ensure all Americans could afford their prescriptions and improve access to care. This led to the formation of Obamacare. Although there were many different aspects of the program, the goal to reduce drug cost through increased Medicaid rebated, expanded discount programs, and the establishment of a new system for approval of more affordable versions of drugs was part of the act (The White House, n.d.). Although President Bush and Obama were in favor or lowering prescription cost, President Trump has been attempting to drop out of control prescription drug prices. The Trump administration proposed a transparency rule (Curfman et al., 2020). This requires pharmaceutical companies to include their wholesale cost. With all presidents being in favor of price reduction, why did the pharmaceutical industry just announce that at least 500 drugs will increase (Curfman et al., 2020)? If I could do something differently, I would implement an act where prescription drugs cost could not rise above a certain percentage each year. I would also include a maximum mark up rate each prescription could do. For example (using simple numbers), if Tylenol cost $10 to make a bottle, then the company could only have a 20% mark up, making the bottle cost $12 for consumers. References Curfman, G., & Deb, C. (2020). Relentless prescription drug prices increases. Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) 323(9), 826-828. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork- com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762290 The White House. (n.d.). The Bush record: President Bush strengthened American’s health care system. Retrieved from https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/bushrecord/factsheets/healthcare.html The White House. (n.d). The Record: Improving health for all Americans. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-record/health-care