Printable Version
October 3, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
New Report Details Extent, Effects of Pharmaceutical Company Price Gouging
High Drug Prices “Major Barrier” to Quality of Life, Survival
For Immediate Release
October 3,
2007
Washington, DC – A new report for the
Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund
(ARAEF) details the shocking extent of price
gouging by pharmaceutical companies and
concludes that for millions of Americans, high
drug prices are a major barrier to maintaining
an acceptable quality of life.
Outrageous Fortune: How the Drug Industry Profits from Pills, shows that since the Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund originally explored the pharmaceutical industry in a 2001 report, America’s seniors are struggling more that ever to afford the medications they need to live comfortably and even survive.
Among the findings:
· Prescription
drug spending in 2005 was $200.7 billion, five
times the $40.3 billion spent in 1990. Yet,
U.S. population growth between 1994 and 2005
was only 9 percent.
· Many of the manufacturers’ development efforts are not for new drugs, but rather for copies of existing medications, which keep patents fresh and patient costs high.
· At the same time drug costs are skyrocketing, CEOs at the seven pharmaceutical companies with the highest revenues made over $142 million in 2005.
As a whole, the report demonstrates how the drug industry continues to profit at the expense of seniors, as higher and higher prescription prices and more stringent restrictions on generics are forcing retirees into the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole.” For example, “Ed,” a Pennsylvania resident who participated in a recent Alliance study of the new Part D benefit, spent $1,948 on his six daily medications in the first half of 2006 alone, before being forced into the doughnut hole, where he was responsible for the full price of his next $3,600 in medications on top of his monthly premiums.
“Over the next year, seniors will hear a lot of discussion about prescription drugs and the proposed solutions to the health care problems in this country,” said Alliance for Retired Americans President George J. Kourpias. “We will be distributing this information to our 1,200 local chapters so retirees can make informed decisions about this important issue and the choices they face.”
The report is a publication of the Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, the research and education branch of the Alliance for Retired Americans. The Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization focused on retiree issues in three program areas: research and development of written materials on public policy issues; building grassroots; and coalition activities.
Copies are available online at http://www.retiredamericansfund.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/3065, or in print by contacting Marcie Kohenak at (202) 637-5178, or Mkohenak@retiredamericans.org.