Drug prices back in the news

Recently, there seems to be a lot of media coverage about drug prices getting out of control. Kaiser Health News published one article about an idea of financing expensive drugs through loans, paid off in installments. Some are arguing that these expensive drugs should be covered by insurance. What appears to be happening is that there are certain drugs that are both very expensive and cure a condition (rather than just manage a condition), such as some of the recent drugs for hepatitis C. In many cases, patients with those conditions can live a while without such drugs, and insurance companies have been slow to agree to pay for such treatment until the health of such patients have deteriorated. Insurance companies may even agree that over the long term, paying for the expensive upfront treatment can be worthwhile in theory (saving on health maintenance drugs over many years), but note that patients frequently change insurance plans which undermines the financial calculation. The resulting sub-optimal situation could benefit from a financed solution. There may be other solutions, such as insurance companies agreeing to pay for treatment in exchange for patients agreeing to stay with an insurance plan for a certain number of years; unfortunately, such ideas may be limited because of patients might not have much choice to stay with the same plan if their employers choose to change carriers to save costs.

Meanwhile, the American College of Physicians is reported as protesting high drug prices and as advocating for government intervention. As the chorus around drug prices grows, it'll be interesting to see how industry reacts.