3 ms·

This is absolutely baffling to me. I live in the UK and was given a non-NHS prescription after a diagnosis for ADHD, and a month's medication is £13. Why are ph

by hkt 4y ago

This is absolutely baffling to me. I live in the UK and was given a non-NHS prescription after a diagnosis for ADHD, and a month's medication is £13. Why are pharmaceuticals in the US so expensive?

kcplate 4y ago
Some are. The latest and greatest are. Generic medications are often inexpensive or free (with insurance). I take 4 regular medications, one has a cost...with my insurance it’s $7 a month ($25 without). 3 are free insurance or not because my grocery/pharmacy provides them for free because the want me to buy their inflated grocery prices instead of going across the road to spend my money at their competitors.
- seanhunter 4y ago
  In the UK for people on low or no incomes or people under or over certain ages all prescription drugs are free and for everyone else they are a fixed charge per item (usually 9.35GBP). This is regardless of whether they are the latest and greatest or a generic. https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/nhs-prescription-charges/ https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies... The US has one of the highest per-capita spends on healthcare in the world[1] for demonstrably poorer health outcomes[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea... and elsewhere [2] eg the CIA factbook all-cause mortality table shows Bangladesh as having about half the mortality rate of the US. https://web.archive.org/web/20201010211308/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/346.html https://web.archive.org/web/20201010211308/https://www.cia.g...
  - kcplate 4y ago
    So what you are saying is…that my Rx costs are more than 6x lower than what the same medications would cost in the UK. Good to know.

3 ms·

This is absolutely baffling to me. I live in the UK and was given a non-NHS prescription after a diagnosis for ADHD, and a month's medication is £13. Why are ph

by hkt 4y ago

This is absolutely baffling to me. I live in the UK and was given a non-NHS prescription after a diagnosis for ADHD, and a month's medication is £13. Why are pharmaceuticals in the US so expensive?

kcplate 4y ago
Some are. The latest and greatest are. Generic medications are often inexpensive or free (with insurance). I take 4 regular medications, one has a cost...with my insurance it’s $7 a month ($25 without). 3 are free insurance or not because my grocery/pharmacy provides them for free because the want me to buy their inflated grocery prices instead of going across the road to spend my money at their competitors.
- seanhunter 4y ago
  In the UK for people on low or no incomes or people under or over certain ages all prescription drugs are free and for everyone else they are a fixed charge per item (usually 9.35GBP). This is regardless of whether they are the latest and greatest or a generic. https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/nhs-prescription-charges/ https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies... The US has one of the highest per-capita spends on healthcare in the world[1] for demonstrably poorer health outcomes[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea... and elsewhere [2] eg the CIA factbook all-cause mortality table shows Bangladesh as having about half the mortality rate of the US. https://web.archive.org/web/20201010211308/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/346.html https://web.archive.org/web/20201010211308/https://www.cia.g...
  - kcplate 4y ago
    So what you are saying is…that my Rx costs are more than 6x lower than what the same medications would cost in the UK. Good to know.