Analyzing the side effects of drug ads
4 март 2008, USA Today
... taking was preferable."
Market's high pressure
Advertising is just one factor in rising drug prices.
Overall prices grew about 3.5% in 2006, government data show, spurred not only by ads but also by new drugs on the market and an aging population. In 2006, insurers, consumers and government spent $216 billion on prescription medications, about 10% of the total spent on health care in the USA.
The average price increase masks some sharper jumps in certain types of drugs. Sleep aids — a heavily advertised product — rose 13.8% in price from 2005 to 2006, according to data from Express Scripts, a private firm hired by employers and insurers to handle drug benefits. The data cover people with insurance; the uninsured may have seen steeper increases.
Cholesterol drugs, also heavily advertised, went up an average 5.5% — the average price of a prescription of Lipitor hit $85.68 for a month's supply, according to the Express Scripts data.
King, who is president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, says the three types of drugs he most commonly hears patients request are treatments for impotence, indigestion and restless legs, a condition that causes strange sensations in the legs and an uncontrollable urge to move. All three are heavily advertised.
When patients do need medication, King says, he talks with them about the drugs and their costs. "If I can use a less expensive medicine or a generic, I will," he says.
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