Healthcare and Drugs in America Essay -- Research Papers Health Medici

Healthcargon and Drugs in AmericaIt is no secret that the terms of American healthcare is on the try out. Already the nation is spending about $1.65 trillion a year on healthcare. That represents 15 percent of receipts domestic product, the total output of goods and services. It consumes one-fourth of the federal budget, more than defense. (Allan Rubin) This is cod to the factors of expensive technology, less stringent HMO cost management, and more specifically to this paper, rapidly rising medicate costs. Surveying nearly 3,000 employers, Mercer Human election Consulting finds that their health-benefit costs rose 10.1 percent this year, while inflation hovered around 2 percent.And as the research and development of these drugs continue to outpace inflation, most Americans testament continue to pay for this trend. How so? There are two master(prenominal) reasons for this phenomenon. First of all the U.S has highly favorable patent laws toward these drug companies, prohibitin g customary market competition for long periods of time. These monopolies allow manufacturers to charge several light speed percent above (world) market prices. (Dean Baker and Noriko Chatani) Some pharmaceutical companies occupy even been accused of delaying generic drug patents through litigation, even bribery in order to keep their drug prices high. It encourages a behavior of take in seekers. And these tactics prove highly lucrative. For example the drug Cardizem, used for slant pressure and hypertension reduction, had $700 million in sales in the 11 months the generic drug was kept off the market. This also causes generic brands to rise in cost. According to IMS Health, pharmaceutical information companies, the price for generic drugs are increasing almost twice as fast as prices f... ...Noriko (2002) Promoting well behaved Ideas on Drugs The Relative Efficiency of Patent and Public Support for Bio-Medical investigate October 11, 2002, http//www.cepr.net/promoting_good _ideas_on_drugs.htmBuying prescription Medicines Online A Consumer Safety Guide, available online at http//www.fda.gov/cder/drug/consumer/buyonline/guide.htmFrancis, David R. (2003) Healthcare costs are up. Here are the culprits. http//www.csmonitor.com/2003/1215/p21s01-coop.htmlHaislmaier, Edmund F. (2004) Compromising forest The High Cost of Government Drug Purchasing. The Heritage Foundation. May 25, 2004Meadows, Michelle (2002) import Drugs Raise Safety Concerns. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Consumer magazine, September-October 2002Rubin, Allan and Rubin, Harold (2004) Patents and Prescription Drugs-Part I. http//www.therubins.com/legal/patext.htm