America is getting older ⏤ and sicker. As the population ages and battles multiple chronic conditions, affordable healthcare is becoming more important than ever. According to a POLITICO-Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health survey conducted in 2020, 80 percent of American voters cite healthcare costs as their top priority.
Out-of-control prescription drug prices are the leading driver of skyrocketing healthcare costs. The growth of prescription medication costs has far exceeded other medical spending during the past few years. A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) study projects that prescription drug expenditures will surpass all other health spendings over the next decade.
Despite changes at the White House, Americans continue to struggle with unaffordable healthcare. Here we’ll cover how Big Pharma and its politically influential proxies work behind the scenes to keep drug prices high and reap maximum profits.
U.S Prescription Medication Costs
Prescription medication costs in the United States continue to rise. How bad is the drug price problem? The United States has the highest prescription medication costs in the world. Americans are paying twice more for the same medication than citizens of Canada, Japan, and countries in Western Europe.
At an annual cost of $1,200 per person, 58 million Americans can’t afford to buy their needed medications. Many people are skipping medically necessary drugs to save money, leading to dire consequences for the nation. Almost 13 percent of Americans ⏤ or 34 million people ⏤ know a friend or family that has died because they were unable to pay for medical treatment.
Why Do U.S. Prescription Drugs Cost So Much?
America’s healthcare crisis is a puzzle to many. Why do medications cost so much in the United States? This uniquely American problem is caused by several factors, many of which stem from Big Pharma’s anti-competitive schemes and outsized political influence in the U.S. Here are some reasons why prescription medications are out of reach for millions of Americans.
No Pricing Regulations
Regarding affordable healthcare as the right of all citizens, the governments of developed countries regulate the price of prescription medications to ensure universal accessibility. Regulatory agencies in other countries negotiate the price of prescription drugs with pharmaceutical manufacturers before granting them approval to sell the product in their market.
America is an anomaly among developed countries in the sense that it does not have any government agencies to set or regulate drug prices. The United States allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to set their own drug prices without any limits or controls. Considering their monopolies, Big Pharma is free to impose any price they decide without competition and generate huge profits.
Patent Abuse
The United States patent system was designed to protect intellectual property. US patent laws prevent others from profiting from your innovation for 20 years. This means when a pharmaceutical company has an active patent for a specific drug, other manufacturers can’t produce generic alternatives until the original patent expires.
Big Pharma is gaming the American patent system to extend its 20-year market exclusivity. Citing newer formulations, Big Pharma files multiple patents for its best-selling products. The practice of over-patenting is helping Big Pharma extend their exclusive rights from 20 to 38 years. Patent abuse is delaying the entry of lower-cost, generic competition into the US market.
Political Influence
Big Pharma spends big money on political lobbying to keep Washington on its side in maintaining the status quo. According to research conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science, the US pharmaceutical industry has spent $4.7 billion from 1999-2018 on lobbying the federal government and campaign contributions to presidential and congressional candidates.
It is undeniable that those billions influence US health policy in favor of the pharmaceutical industry. Despite being a popular move to reduce the nation’s healthcare costs, successive American governments have hindered the import of lower-priced drugs from Canada and other countries. By eliminating foreign competition, Big Pharma can maintain its US monopoly.
Turning Abroad to Find Affordable Medications
While it is illegal to import large quantities of prescription drugs from overseas, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows Americans to bring in a 90-day supply of medications from abroad for personal use. For years, Americans crossed the border into Canada and Mexico to buy lower-priced medications. And then came the internet ⏤ and overseas online pharmacies.
There are many licensed overseas pharmacies that operate online and sell authentic and affordable medications. Internet pharmacies make it easier for Americans to obtain low-cost drugs. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted in 2016 found that eight percent of Americans ⏤ or 19 million people ⏤ regularly bought medications from abroad, primarily via the internet.
Big Pharma’s Crackdown on Overseas Online Pharmacies
As millions of Americans turned online for affordable medication, overseas internet pharmacies were costing Big Pharma tens of billions of dollars in lost annual revenue. Unable to revoke FDA’s personal importation policy, Big Pharma developed a powerful tool ⏤ in the form of internet pharmacy certifiers ⏤ to destroy foreign competition and protect its profits.
Internet pharmacy certifiers are service providers that help American consumers distinguish between legitimate and rogue online pharmacies. Although some certifiers are independent companies, the most distinguished of these are Big Pharma proxies with powerful government connections. Big Pharma-connected pharmacy verification services have one goal ⏤block American access to affordable medication from overseas.
How is Big Pharma Blocking Access to Affordable Healthcare?
Under the pretense of protecting public health and safety, Big Pharma affiliated online pharmacy certifiers classify all non-American pharmacies as rogue businesses. Even licensed online Canadian pharmacies that are members of The Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) and regulated by their government are labeled as illegal entities.
On closer inspection, it’s easy to see why. Take a look at the members and observers of The Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP). The most popular internet pharmacy certifier works hand in glove with pharma giants Eli Lilly and Merck, and the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), a Big Pharma front group exposed in 2017 for campaigning against foreign drug imports.
ASOP, PSM, and mainstream internet pharmacy certifiers have not been established to protect public health. These front groups have one mission and that is to preserve Big Pharma’s dominance over the American market. This is how Big Pharma’s proxies work behind the scenes to cut off American access to lower-cost medication from Canada and elsewhere:
Shutting Down Pharmacy Websites
Big Pharma-connected pharmacy certifiers work with internet service providers to shut down the websites of foreign pharmacies that sell low-cost medications to American consumers. Under the excuse of taking down rogue businesses, these certifiers have closed down hundreds of overseas online pharmacies, wiping foreign pharmacies off the internet.
Preventing Website Registration
Big Pharma-affiliated verification services have formed partnerships with the world’s biggest domain name registrars to prevent “rogue” ⏤ AKA foreign ⏤ pharmacies from registering and launching websites. If a pharmacy wants to set up an online business, it must register its website with the .pharmacy domain.
The .pharmacy domain was granted by ICANN to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), a “non-profit organization” that promotes Big Pharma interests. NABP awards the .pharmacy domain only to legal ⏤ meaning American ⏤ internet pharmacies, restricting foreign pharmacies’ access to the web.
Censoring Websites
If an overseas pharmacy succeeds in launching a website, it will face other obstacles. Big Pharma front groups have coerced search engines like Google and Bing to censor these sites for American internet users. When American patients search for affordable medications online, overseas internet pharmacies will not appear in their search results.
Along with foreign online pharmacies, this internet censorship also targets websites that help Americans find affordable drugs from legitimate overseas suppliers. Pharmacychecker.com, an independent online pharmacy verification service, has dropped in Google’s rankings from #1 to #90 for the search term “online pharmacy” after getting blacklisted by the NABP.
Criminalize Online Advertising
The US pharmaceutical industry has gone to great lengths to ensure that American consumers don’t find more affordable medications from other countries. With the support of its politicians in Washington, Big Pharma has made it a criminal offense for internet platforms to run ads from overseas online pharmacies.
In 2011, the U.S Department of Justice fined Google $500 million for accepting advertisements from online Canadian pharmacies. Now Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo must comply with Big Pharma-linked internet pharmacy certifiers to run ads from online pharmacies. Since only US pharmacies can legally advertise online, Americans will struggle to find low-cost medications.
Denying Access to Payments System
To legitimize their blanket blacklisting of overseas online pharmacies, Big Pharma-funded verification services allege that all foreign internet pharmacies are illegal businesses run by Chinese and Russian criminal organizations. Any payment provider that offers financial services to overseas online pharmacies is at risk of being accused of facilitating international crime.
Credit card companies and payment processors deny financial services to overseas internet pharmacies to protect their public image and prevent run-ins with the law. Cutting off foreign online pharmacies from the global payment system makes it almost impossible for Americans to buy affordable medications from the internet, effectively curtailing personal drug imports.
American Politics and Affordable Healthcare Don’t Mix
Although every American administration has promised to lower healthcare costs, healthcare spending keeps breaking new records. This U.S administration, like its predecessors, won’t do much to rein in prescription drug prices. Do you now know why affordable healthcare, politics, and Big Pharma don’t mix? Because Big Pharma profits from high drug prices, and many former/current officials thrive on Big Pharma’s deep pockets.
References
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- 2018. National Health Expenditure Projections 2018-2027. [ebook] cms.gov, pp.1-3. Available at: <https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/ForecastSummary.pdf> [Accessed 2 October 2021].
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