As of Saturday June 8, many people in the US will pay $35 a month out of pocket for their asthma medications, reports NBC News. AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim have agreed to limit people’s out-of-pocket costs for inhalers. GlaxoSmithKline says it will also limit people’s out-of-pocket costs but not until next year. The cap does not apply to people with Medicare.
People in other developed countries pay far less than Americans for their inhalers. Americans have been paying 13 times what Brits pay for AstraZeneca inhalers, $645 as compared to $49. Teva charges Americans $286 for their inhalers and Germans $9.
And, we’re talking millions of Americans are paying insane costs for inhalers. Twenty-seven million Americans suffer from asthma. Five million of them are children.
Today, even with insurance, many Americans cannot afford their asthma medicines. Costs for insured people with asthma can easily be $350 a month in the US, when you fold in the cost of additional medications such as albuterol.
Black Americans are more at risk than white Americans. Black Americans have far worse health outcomes. Black children with asthma are 4.5 times more likely to end up in the hospital and 7.6 times more likely to die because of their asthma.
If you have insurance: Your pharmacy should adjust the price of your inhalers to $35 a month, if it participates in the pharmaceutical companies’ programs.
If you don’t have insurance or your pharmacy is not participating in the program: You can visit your drug company’s website online and sign up for a $35 copay card.
It’s still not clear whether people who use multiple medications for their asthma will have to pay $35 a month for each asthma medicine. Some people need a rescue inhaler in addition to a maintenance inhaler.
It’s great that some pharmaceutical companies have agreed voluntarily to lower people’s asthma medicine costs. But, it’s terrible policy that pharmaceutical corporations can charge pretty much what they will for their drugs, and we have to rely on their voluntary gestures for our drugs to be affordable. Right now, too many Americans are forced to choose between their child’s inhaler and food or rent.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Some Democrats oppose Biden’s goal of lowering more Medicare drug prices
- Billions in Medicare savings from Medicare drug price negotiation by 2031
- Millions safely import low-cost drugs from abroad
- Medicare Part D drug coverage stunts are rampant
- Six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare
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