Cost Of Medicine Essay

Social Impact of Cost of medicines One of the main reasons why the price of medicine should be lowered is that it’s putting many people at risk for dangerous diseases and illnesses. Cancer patients who are in poverty won’t be able to pay for their medicine unless they have insurance. However, if they do have insurance, often the cancer patient is forced to wait until the last stage of cancer to receive treatment. Waiting until the last stage of cancer for insurance is very inefficient as there's a reduced chance of survival due to the spread and growth of the tumor. As stated in “Winning the Battle Against Lung Cancer”written by the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, “Their five-year survival rate was 4 percent from the time they were first diagnosed”(Seattle Cancer Care Alliance). In later

This can create stress and depression for family members. The death of the family member can cause the rest of the family to have a feeling of guilt due the inability to pay for medicines at earlier and treatable stages due to the expensive costs. According to “Rising Cost Of Drugs: Where Do We Go From Here?” by Health Affairs Blog, which is very reliable, it states that “the average annual cost of cancer drugs increased from roughly $10,000 before 2000 to over $100,000 by 2012, according to a recent study in Mayo Clinic Proceedings”(Islam). In “Millions of adults skip medications due to their high cost” by Harvard Medical School, it states that “with the high price of most prescription drugs, it’s not surprising that many Americans choose not to fill a prescription or take it as directed to save money...with health insurance...copayments alone can be a prohibitive” (LeWine). The costful prices puts a restriction on the patients to buy the medicines to save money for other important expenses such as housing, children, and other essential needs. It is also stated that “New