[Brainx]

In the United States, health care is expensive. For many people, the cost of medication is prohibitive.

Money and Greed can cause the problem. Money and Greed can solve the problem.

There is nothing wrong, in principle, with greed itself. Greed itself is not 'evil' because it is greed. It is because of greed - a desire to have money - that pays for most every thing, every service, and pays for most every job. Greed can serve the good. It is because of greed that companies are able make medication itself. The high prices of Rx drugs are driven by greed, profit the method.
Drug prices will either not likely be lowered by legislation, or if legislated,
will not prove to as effective as would if changed by the profit motive. The many pharmaceutical companies, the companies that sell the chemicals to make the drugs, the companies who sell packaging, the distributors, warehouses, and the pharmacies, all have an interest in fighting changes in the law that would economically harm them. The problem of high cost Rx drugs in the United States from profit is not unsolvable. The solution does not lay in fighting greed. It works by feeding it.

If it were profitable for the price Rx drugs to be low, than the price of Rx drugs would be low.

The present economic model works by adding a profit to the cost of each pill.

Suppose instead, the economic model was based on 'Rx Units' sold, where an 'Rx Unit' is defined to mean 1 unit = 1 prescription drug/refill.

Here is how an Rx Unit would work.
Breakdown of price:

For each GENERIC DRUG Rx Unit

The Pharmacy will receive $ 6.20
The Distributor will receive $ .10
The Warehouse will receive $ .10
The State auditor will receive $ .05
The Drug Assistance fund will receive $ 2.80
The Drug Company will receive $ 18.00
The price to the consumer $ 27.25


For each BRAND NAME Rx unit

The Pharmacy will receive $ 6.20
The Distributor will receive $ .10
The Warehouse will receive $ .10
The State auditor will receive $ .05
The Drug Assistance fund $ 2.80
The Drug Company will receive $ 58.00

The price to the consumer $ 67.25


The cost of Rx drugs to the consumer would be either
$27.25 / refill (Generic)

or

$67.25 / refill (Brand)

This economic model is designed for drug sales at any pharmacy. Companies would choose to participate, based on profitability.

The proposed economic model keeps downward pressure on price increases; the lower the price, the more Rx units can be sold.

The model had been designed to assist anyone who is unable to pay. To insure that people who CAN afford to pay for their medications will not benefit from FREE medicine, and to insure that there is no abuse, there need be an independent auditor. The auditor must have the power in law to enforce it's actions.

This can be addressed by the attorney general for each state. To pay the additional expenses to the state, monies must be collected by the program. For this reason, five cents is added to the cost of each Rx/refill. These funds should go directly to the state, each state fulfilling it's obligation to it's citizens.

To pay for the financial assistance for the cost of Rx drugs for those people who cannot afford to pay the cost of drugs, $2.80 is added to the cost for each Rx unit.

Financial assistance for Rx medications will draw from this assistance fund on a sliding scale, depending on income for that individual. Anyone who is unable to pay will not be charged for the cost of drugs.

Monies from the drug assistance fund would go to the Pharmaceutical industry. It's disbursement would be audited by the Attorney General of each state.

Because not all drugs are available as a generic, those Rx drugs which are available as brand name only will be priced as a generic drug.

The cost of prescription drugs will be lower for everyone, including those who are able to pay for their medications.

While the price for each refill/drug for some of the generic drugs may be higher than what people are currently charged, and for some the cost for each Rx drug may be higher than what an individual who has Rx drug insurance pays in co-pay plans, these expenses may be offset by a second economic model.

Instead of government dictating tax increases to be levied on it's citizens, people could VOTE to add a tax to offset the cost of drugs. Voting for the plan would increase your taxes. However, because it is your money, it would be your choice.

The following figures are preliminary:

A tax increase of $1,000.00 / person / year would lower the cost of Rx drugs
for generic drugs to $15.00 / Rx Unit.

alternatively,

If pharmacies could write off in taxes the cost of the dispensing vials, containers, the labels, and could write off the labor expense for pharmacists assistants (the person who counts out the medicine from a large container to the small vial which you receive), this would reduce the cost of doing business to the pharmacy. This savings could be reflected in a lower cost to you by lowering the $6.20 fee is paid to the pharmacy for each Rx unit. This would also allow pharmacies to hire additional employees to process the additional customer load on it's labor resource. These employees pay income taxes, contributing to the tax base that pays for their salaries, and contributing to the local economy.

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