The use of prescription drugs has become a major issue for both governors and residents of the US due to the drugs’ increasing price rates. In order to combat the matter, the US Congress issued the Prescription Drug Affordability and Access Act on January 8, 2020 (S.3166, 2020). The main goal of the proposed law is to reconsider the prices and the patterns of prescribing drugs to the US residents. The following paper is aimed at justifying the positive aspects of the proposed law as well as at analyzing the current situation with prescription drugs in the country.
The proposed law should be supported because of the critical increase in prescription drug prices over the years. According to the latest data, the costs for the medications have been rapidly increasing since 2001 (PGPF, 2019). Such an increase can be explained by one and most important reason. The market for prescription drugs in the US is monopolistic, so people have no other option but to pay the required sum of money to get proper treatment. Hence, if approved, the bill would take control over the market in order to establish a justified correlation of prices and patients’ average income rates.
Furthermore, the Act should be supported due to the increasing people’s dissatisfaction with the current issue states. According to the latest research, more than 70% of US residents who take prescription medications believe the prices to be unreasonable (Ways and Means Committee, 2019). In a study, the prices were also compared to the ones of the UK, Japan, Australia, and major European countries. As a result, the US prices were, on average, four times higher than the ones in the aforementioned countries (Ways and Means Committee, 2019). Thus, the Prescription Drug Affordability and Access Act would be able to stop the universal resonance.
Taking everything into consideration, the proposed bill, known as the Prescription Drug Affordability and Access Act, should be supported by both the government and the US residents for a number of reasons. The law submission will encourage reconsideration of the prices now existing on the monopolistic drug market. Moreover, the law will help establish the proper interconnection between the average income and price for the prescription.
References
Peter G. Peterson Foundation (PGPF). (2019). Why are prescription drug prices rising, and how do they affect the US fiscal outlook? . Web.
US Congress: Prescription Drug Affordability and Access Act of 2020, S.3166. (2020). Web.
Ways and Means Committee. (2019). A painful pill to swallow: US vs. international prescription drug prices. Web.