The amount of money Americans are spending for prescription drugs is on the rise. If you ask Hilary Clinton, she will tell you it is the drug companies fault and say that Washington doesn’t have enough control. However, that isn’t anywhere near the case. The main problem more than likely stems from Obamacare.
Obamacare gained a number of followers based on the promise that the total cost would come down as long as Americans gave control over their healthcare to Washington. While that was the promise, that wasn’t exactly what happened. Costs have continued to soar when it comes to healthcare. Prescription drugs is just one of those costs that have risen steadily. Since that new law passed back in 2010, the amount of money spend on medicine has increased by 21 percent.
Because the reasoning behind why the costs going up are complex and confusing, there isn’t a single factor that can explain everything. Obamacare has contributed to the changes in more ways than one. To begin with, Obamacare imposed a tax on prescription drug importers and manufacturers to the tune of $27 billion. As with all tax increases, the consumers are the ones left having to foot the bill.
This shouldn’t really come as a shock when you think about it. The CBO said that Obamacare was going to increase spending in more ways than one long before the law took place. Beyond the new tax, the law also mandated rebates and discounts for the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Manufacturers offset costs by increasing the cost of the prescription.
Even though prices are continuously increasing, the amount of insurance people have available to them continues to shrink. Almost every one of the silver plans under Obamacare have restrictions on what type of prescriptions are covered and what ones aren’t. If the drug isn’t on the approved list, the patient is the one who is left having to foot the bill on their own. There are a number of drugs not on the list, including those for cancer, hepatitis C and rheumatoid arthritis.
It’s no wonder why so many Americans are stressing out over what they are supposed to do when it comes to paying for their medical needs. Isn’s it about time that the individual paying for the benefits gets what they need?