We have long heard from the media that the pharmaceutical industry “over charges” for prescription drugs and “makes money at the sake of those who can least afford it.” Public examples such as Turing, Mylan, and Valeant helped drive those narratives home. However, a poll done by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that may not be the case. The polls were done throughout 2015 and 2016 and were related to public opinion on prescription drugs and their prices.
Perhaps one of the most interesting findings in the entire report was that seventy-seven percent of the public says the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable, but among those taking prescription drugs, seventy-three percent say affording them is easy. Only one in four prescription drug users (roughly fourteen percent of the overall population) say it is difficult to pay for their drugs.
Other Key Findings of the Report
The report included other key findings on public opinion of industry, including:
- While fifty-six percent of the public says that prescription drugs developed over the past twenty years have made the lives of people in the U.S. better, fifty-three percent have an unfavorable opinion of pharmaceutical companies.
- Seventy-three percent say they think drug companies make too much profit, compared to twenty-one percent who say drug companies make about the right amount of profit and just one percent who believes they don’t make enough profit.
- Seventy-four percent of the public thinks people in American pay higher prices for the same prescription drug than patients in Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe.
- Large percentages favor actions to lower drug costs, such as requiring drug companies to publicly release information on how prices are set, allowing the government to negotiate prices in Medicare Part D and limiting the amount drug companies can charge for high-cost drugs for illnesses like cancer.
- Sixty-two percent of the public, including fifty-four percent of Republicans, think there is not as much regulation as there should be when it comes to limiting the price of prescription drugs. However, a majority of those polled believe market competition does a better job at keeping prescription drug prices down than government regulation does.
- Seventy-seven of those polled believe pharmaceutical profits are a major factor contributing to prices, but also acknowledge that there are other factors contributing to prices, such as medical research (sixty-four percent), marketing and advertising (fifty-four percent), and lawsuits against drug companies (forty-nine percent).
Potential Solutions
While many have pointed to Congress as having the answer and solution to resolve the issue of presumed high drug prices, “prospects for legislative change are not high and are probably a little ways off,” according to Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard Medical School. He continued, noting, “But maybe things are starting to change in a way that might provide an opening for some reform.”
According to Chip Kahn, CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, “It’s hitting the point where the drug cost issue has got everyone’s attention, but I’m not sure what the coalition would be that would support heavy-handed government intervention.”
However, as noted previously, the vast majority of patients who rely on medications do not have a problem affording their medication. While that does not necessarily mean there is no room for improvement on prescription prices, it does mean that there is a bit of a perception gap. Pharmaceutical manufacturers should continue to espouse all of the beneficial things they do to help patients, including patient assistance programs, focusing on the research and development of new and improved courses of treatment, and highlighting the value prescriptions provide for patients.