Drug ads list all the risks, except one to your wallet
Whether you lean red or blue when it comes to politics, everyone should demand clarity when it comes to costs. And a draft rule now working its way through the halls of our federal government promises to bring a little clarity to the opaque subject of health care.
Sure, it’s coming from the Trump administration, but critics should keep in mind their local pharmacy doesn’t take voter registration into account when it rings up prescriptions. Then the only color that matters is green.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar is recommending drug manufacturers disclose in their ubiquitous ads the list price of a 30-day supply of any drug covered through Medicare and Medicaid that costs more than $35 a month. FYI that’s just about every drug.
The proposed rule is in the midst of a 60-day comment period. Suffice it to say Big Pharma, which spent $6.1 billion on direct-to-consumer ads last year, is against the plan, which currently calls for the price to be written in a type size legible to television watchers but not said aloud.
Just think, wouldn’t it be nice to know what that rheumatoid arthritis, diabetic nerve pain, blood sugar or blood clot medicine (the four most advertised this year) costs before rushing to the doctor and begging him or her to write out a prescription? God knows these advertisements include every health risk known to man, from itchy skin to death. Having a clue about the risk to your wallet would provide another piece of information for patient-doctor discussions on whether a drug is worth trying.
And while it’s questionable if the intended purpose of including price in ads — to curb rampant drug spending — will bear fruit, it most certainly will help prevent the kind of sticker shock patients suffered when Mylan raised the cost of its EpiPen allergy-reaction injectors from $57 to $608 in 2015. Or when Martin Shkreli hiked the price of toxoplasmosis med Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 a pill that same year. Or when Nostrum Laboratories increased the price of its bladder infection antibiotic, nitrofurantoin, this fall from $474 a bottle to $2,393.
Azar has compared disclosing drug prices in ads to the 1950s-era rule requiring automakers to post vehicle sticker prices. And while that might not have cut what buyers pay for a new ride, it sure has helped consumers make better-informed choices.
Health care is one of the last areas that keeps consumers in the dark when it comes to costs. If there is any hope of making Americans smarter medical consumers, as well as reigning in that spending, they need to know costs up front.