TAMPA, Fla — You already know it, especially if you're regularly getting prescription drugs. Prices continue to get higher, and people are having to pay more and more out of pocket.
This week, some of the first steps are being taken to try to bring prices down. Congress reached a deal to lower prescription drug prices late Tuesday night. It now needs to be approved by Friday in order to head to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 15.
The agreement would allow Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug manufacturers for certain drugs. There would also be a cap at $2,000 for out-of-pocket spending for seniors. Right now, the cap for this year is set at $6,500. Pharmacists say that number is too high.
"We literally could be talking about a difference of hundreds of dollars each month for seniors, for the medication cost and that could be the difference between paying a bill or having food or having to buy medication. Or having to stretch medication out, which makes it less effective. So we're very, very happy about what could happen here," Dr. Kevin Sneed, the dean of USF's College of Pharmacy, said.
A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows:
- 29% of all adults haven't taken their prescribed medications over the past year.
- 18% took an over the counter drug instead
- 12% cut their pills in half or skipped a dose
The bill, if approved will cut drug prices down; it just won't happen right away. Dr. Sneed says it could take two to three years to see the change in prices.
"I had a patient come in, and that was requesting to get to a lower cost medication, or much older, generic medication, simply because the cost of that medication was $300 a month. The cost of the generic medication that I would put them on would be about $10 a month. This is a big financial hit to anyone that may be on the fixed income, which many times our seniors are," Sneed said.
One of Sneed's biggest concerns is the price of insulin which he says was $26 over 10 years ago. That price has since gone up to $126 right now. This new bill would cap the life saving drug at $35 a month.