In the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) there are occasionally amazingly interesting snippets of information, not long enough to be articles, written as letters. In the early June 2022 issue, a letter entitled Trends in Prescription drug Launch Prices 2008-2021 was an eye opener. I have known for a long time that new drugs come out with high prices. In general, for this reason, I rarely prescribe new drugs unless they substantially improve my patients' lives and are covered by their insurance. The costs of new drugs are absolutely beyond what anyone but the most fabulously rich people can afford. Harvoni, a drug to treat a very common form of blood borne hepatitis that is responsible for a substantial proportion of cases of liver failure, costs about $90,000 for a 12 week course. Ozempic, a weekly injection that works great for type 2 diabetes and is very effective in helping people lose weight, costs over $1000 per month. Humira, an injection sometimes giv...
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.