The cost of prescription drugs in America has risen to the level that most Americans could not afford them with out the help of an insurance plan. The greedy and capitalistic pharmaceutical companies rely on the United States to fund the future development of drugs with skyrocketing prices and enormous margins. Recently the issue has extended into the mainstream political arena, thanks in part to the new Medicare bill(2). With the push by congress for the importation of drugs from foreign sources, regardless of the potential long and short term consequences, the time to vocally support health care reform is upon the American public. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates every substance intended for human consumption, with …show more content…
In this situation the drugs were originally manufactured in the United States or an FDA approved facility. The danger to the end user or patient is simply not knowing where the drugs came from to begin with. This is where the FDA feels the patient could ingest either weak, over potent or counterfeit drugs with potentially deadly side effects. Many on-line Canadian pharmacies have actual drugs imported from U.S. sources and some do not. As long as the consumer can find a reputable and licensed Canadian pharmacy that has a strong Internet presence there is no real danger of impure or counterfeit drugs(2). Several top FDA officials have testified to Congress regarding the importation of drugs from foreign sources. Their conclusion has been consistently, the burden this would place on the director of the FDA would be unfair(4). The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CIDER) has attempted to evaluate the potential for regulation of such drugs, with the conclusion that regulation would be extremely costly and nearly impossible. The main reason the task would be difficult would be the need to test every pill, vial, or suppository that entered the United States. Since the drug is generally destroyed in the process the consumer would never receive their prescription. The position of the FDA is, and should be to protect the American public. However during my
Managed care dominates health care in the United States. It is any health care delivery system that combines the functions of health insurance and the actual delivery of care, where costs and utilization of services are controlled by methods such as gatekeeping, case management, and utilization review. Different types of managed care plans came into development by three major factors. These factors include choice of providers, different ways of arranging the delivery of services, and payment and risk sharing. Types of managed care organizations include Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) which consist of five common models that differ according to how the HMO is related to the participating physicians, Preferred Provider Organizations
Medicare and Medicaid are programs that have been developed to assist Americans in attainment of quality health care. Both programs were established in 1965 and are federally supported to provide health care coverage to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, the disabled, and people with low incomes. Both Medicare and Medicaid are federally mandated and determine coverage under each program; both are run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency ("What is Medicare? What is Medicaid?” 2008).
emerge as a professional entity until the beginning of the 20th century, with the progress in biomedical science. Since then, the
The Medicines Act 1968:- The Medicines Act controls the manufacture and supply of medicines for human and veterinary use. The act defines three categories of the supply of drugs; Prescription only medicines, Pharmacy Medicine, and General sales list medicines the act controls
The cost of health care has been at the forefront of politics for years. It is one of the most talked about topics not just in political venues but also country wide. Every American has an opinion on how our economy can be fixed and they are passionate about health care reform. The price of insurance alone causes many Americans to not have coverage. For those that can afford coverage, the struggle to pay co pays is immensely crippling their bank accounts. Of these burdens on Americans today, the most frightening fact lies in the cost of prescription medications.
Medicare and Medicaid together "are the single biggest contributor to [the United States] long term [budget] deficit." This idea was expressed by President Obama during his 2011 state of the Union Speech. After saying this, the president said that health care costs need to be reduced, including these two services. Medicare and Medicaid are beneficial to those who receive their services, and the criteria for eligibility currently allow many to qualify for either program. This is most likely the cause of the major deficit that the president spoke of. However, downsizing or eliminating these programs to lessen the deficit will affect many people and their ability to receive healthcare.
The U.S. health care system is a scrutinized issue that affects everyone: young, old, rich, and poor. The health care system is comprised of three major components. Since 1973, most Americans have turned to managed-care programs, known as HMOs. The second type of health care offered to Americans is Medicare, health care for the elderly. The third type of health care is Medicaid, a health care program for the poor.
For example an x-ray machine could be leased and the organization would a fee depending on how many x-rays they take per month or year.
Medicare and Medicaid are two of the United States largest broken systems, which must sustain themselves in order to provide care to their beneficiaries. Both Medicare and Medicaid are funding by a joint effort between the federal government and the local state government. If and when these governments choose to cut funding or reduce spending, Medicare and Medicaid take the biggest hit. Most people see these two benefits as one in the same, two benefits the government takes out of their pay check to help fund health care. While the government does deduct a sum from paychecks everywhere, Medicare and Medicaid are very two very different programs.
Medicaid and Medicare are two different government programs. Both programs were created in 1965 to help older and low-income families be able to buy their own private health insurance. These programs were part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” plan, a commitment to helping meet the needs of individual health care. They are social insurance programs, which allow the financial load of patient’s illnesses to be shared by other healthy, sick, wealthy, and lower income individuals and families.
Prescription drugs are one of the most important features of modern health care; when used appropriately they can prevent and cure disease, thereby extending and increasing quality of life (Morgan et al.). Since 2002 with the release of the Romanow Report there has been proposals to update the current health care model to integrate prescription drugs with medicare, but little progress has been achieved. To illustrate the magnitude of the problem, a breakdown of public and private contribution to drug coverage will be conducted, followed by an examination of how the current drug programs create health
Anyone who has purchased prescription medications has probably wondered why they cost so much, and rightfully so. Medication prices in the United States have been on a steady increase for decades, however, prices have been drastically increasing as of recent. Pharmaceutical companies have tried to justify these price increases due to the demand, the high cost of research, and the high costs of development and approval. Notwithstanding, the extent to which the prices have increased is not justifiable. Americans should be against these high medication prices and take action because pharmaceutical companies are taking advantage of our health care system in order to capitalize from the sick. In order shed some light on this issue, we must examine the magnitude, scope, and consequences of these rises in price.
The rise in costs of prescription medicines affects all sectors of the health care industry, including private insurers, public programs, and patients. Spending on prescription drugs continues to be an important health care concern, particularly in light of rising pharmaceutical costs, the aging population, and increased use of costly specialty drugs. In recent history, increases in prescription drug costs have outpaced other categories of health care spending, rising rapidly throughout the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s. (Kaiseredu.org, 2012).
In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.
Westmount Nursing Inc. is a for profit chain with seven different nursing homes. It has a grown from a small few bed facility to a facility with 4 different divisions that made to help make seniors more independent. The Westmount Nursing Homes were in search for a chief executive officer and president, which was filled by Shirley Carpenter. After Shirley Carpenter came on to the company, many changes were made and implemented. Some implementations were successfully, but she was also challenged with many problems with the Union Federation of Nurses and the Board of directors regarding wages and total quality management implementation. My recommendation would be for Shirley to stop the implementation of total quality management and focus on