the real cost of these expensive medications...

[michael]

I am 57 and I've lived with guttate psoriasis since age 22. I used light therapy and ointments off and on for the first 4 or 5 years but have just lived with it for the past 30 or so years for the most part. I have never been completely clear but other than the occasional flareup it hasn't been too bad. Until just recently, I haven't seen a dermatologist since 1996. In 96' Me and my son both had a bad experience with bad food at a local restaurant and that triggered one of the worse psoriasis flareups I've ever had and I made one of my rare doctor appointments to have it looked at. At the time, as well as most of my adult life, I had no health insurance. Thats another thing we learned to live quite well without, but it also helped us to learn to take better care of ourselves and to make the most of home remedies. The prescription I got for my flareup in 96' cost me about $80 US for each refill. Kind of expensive but not terribly so. Just recently, I had another flareup that wound up covering a large area of my body. I have a weak left knee and I injured that knee not long ago and the injury to that knee that must have triggered my psoriasis flareup as I can't think of anything else and the area covered worse by my psoriasis was on my left leg including for the first time below the knee and on the back of my knee. The itching this time was also the worse I've ever experienced. Reluctantly, I finally made an appointment with a dermatologist a couple of weeks ago and was prescribed Clobex spray and Vectical ointment. I've been using them for a week and a half and they have been pretty effective so far, but certainly no more effective than the ointment I used in 1996. . The thing that shocked me was the price of these drugs. At the Walmart pharmacy, 2oz of Clobex was almost $700 US and the tube of Vectical was over $300 - the two together was over $1000 and that is every time I refill them. I believe this is complete medical insanity. Have things really changed THIS much since 1996 ? Here in the US we have just recently had socialized medicine imposed upon us and I can't help but think that this is at-least partially responsible for the ludicrous cost of these two prescriptions. Fortunately for me I am currently employed on a job that provides health insurance and my co-pay part of these drugs cost me a mere $10 but that is not the point. If the insurance I have was not provided and paid for by my employer I could not afford to pay for it myself and would not have any. The new US insurance law also prohibits me from seeing a doctor and paying for the visit myself unless I can prove I have insurance, so I wouldn't have even been able to make the appointment. Now I have found out that even if I could see a doctor and get a prescription, without insurance, the cost of the medication would prohibit me from having it filled. I shudder not for myself, but for everyone that can't afford to buy insurance and there are lot of people that can't. Something has gone terribly wrong. I can't imagine where this will wind up years down the road but no one will ever convince me that anything good will come from this.

[Fred]

I think medications are expensive because of the strict testing they have to do before getting a licence to sell the product. also like any big company these days they need to make huge profits not only to put more money into new developments but also to keep the shareholders happy. Do a test on a new drug at cost of say €25 Million and it goes wrong, you have to recoup that amount on your next development.

I can't comment on you're health system in the USA, but in the UK and France we are used to paying a small amount from our income towards the health system. The Stelara I have been using costs €12000 a year but costs me nothing, however I have paid into the health system all my working life.

If the system in the USA does not charge you for health via your income, then people will maybe go without insurance as it seems expensive to them. ours is taken automaticly from our income via tax's for health / pension / police / education / etc. so we don't tend to think about as paying for health.

looking at it from the other side, over here in Europe we have to pay for health, in the USA you have the choice and your cost of living is lower. Which is best I don't know.