According to the Center for Disease Control in a 2017 study, almost 50% of the U.S. population takes at least one prescription drug. The pharmaceutical industry buys in bulk at a discounted price and uses patients’ need for the drug as leverage to sell for a profit.

Healthcare in the U.S. has and continues to dramatically improve, as new discoveries and treatments are invented every day. While this improves the life expectancy of our citizens and lowers the fatality rates from different diseases, illnesses and birth defects, the medicine is only effective if our citizens have access to and the ability to afford it.

When people go grocery shopping, they often use coupons, compare prices at different stores and use other tactics to ensure they get the best deal or the most goods for the lowest price. The problem with paying for medication is that the people taking the medication do not decide what you need or want to buy. Purchasing medication is like being given a grocery list and told they have to buy everything on it without having the option to bargain shop. 

The pharmaceutical industry thrives off the fact that their consumer base needs the medication. It is not like groceries where, if money is tight one week, you can forego the ice cream and chips and only purchase the essentials like milk and eggs. When people are given a prescription from their doctor, it is because they need it, and your life could very well depend on it. 

While there are programs, such as Good RX and insurance policies, which help to cover the cost and make buying the prescriptions people need more accessible, people should not have to depend on these. No one should have to worry that, if they lose their job and therefore their health insurance, they will no longer be able to afford their medication.

It is sick to profit off the needs of others, especially those medically related that they cannot control. No one asks to be sick or suffer from a condition that requires them to take medication daily. Taking the medication is not the worst part of the illness. Their lives only get more difficult having to worry about how they will pay for it as well.

It is understandable that a business is a business and they are meant to make profits. However, there are some things that you just do not risk for the sake of money. One of those is the health and safety of others. Manufacturers should not punish those who need prescriptions by forcing them to pay abhorrent amounts. Their condition is out of their control, and adding to their stress by profiting off their prescription cost is inhumane and unacceptable.

Photo from moakets via Pixabay