Prescription medicine is expensive, and in some cases unaffordable. The reasons for the high costs of some medicine are talked about by patients, physicians and politicians. But the reasons for high costs matter less than the reality that there are people who could get their medicine for a lot less money if they knew just a few things about how drugs are sourced and priced. Here today to help us crack this code and hack drug prices is respected Houston based neurologist and founder of the Houston Healthcare Initiative Co-Op Dr. Steven Goldstein.
Most people have read or heard about how high the price of prescription medicine is here in the U.S. and how relatively inexpensive it is in other countries, especially Canada. What do the Canadians know? According to Dr. Goldstein, prices for drugs in Canada are set by a special review board that compares prices of medicine in Europeto then decide what to charge. “Here in the U.S. Medicaid does not negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical companies and consequently the prices are higher,” Dr. Goldstein told his listeners.