We Pay 213 Percent More For Drugs Than Canadians

Weiner said he successfully included an amendment in the bill that will bring greater transparency for the public about drug pricing. Congressmembers Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney have released a new study showing that drug companies are charging New Yorkers 213 percent more than they do Canadians for the 10 most prescribed medications.

The study comes on the heels of new reports that drug companies are raising prices for the most popular drugs in anticipation of a healthcare reform bill passing.

Weiner (D–Queens/Brooklyn), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, and Maloney (D– Queens/Manhattan) said the recently passed House healthcare bill would provide health insurance coverage, including prescription drug coverage, for more than 600,000 New Yorkers who are currently uninsured.

The bill requires that federal officials must negotiate with drug companies for lower drug prices in the new public health insurance option, so there’s the prospect of lower prescription drug prices if a healthcare bill passes.

Weiner said he successfully included an amendment in the bill that will bring greater transparency for the public about drug pricing. Upon learning that New Yorkers pay more than twice what Canadians do for drugs, he declared, “It is outrageous for pharmaceutical companies to charge New Yorkers two, even three times as much for the same drugs as Canada. This shows why we need to provide better coverage and extract more savings from our healthcare system. A strong public option will provide choice and competition and lower costs for millions of New Yorkers who depend on prescription drugs for their health, and sometimes for their very lives.”

Maloney noted, “Prescription drug prices in America often seem like they’re straight out of the Wild West—anything goes. It’s been an honor to work with Congressmember Weiner and [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to pass a healthcare reform bill that will insure 36 million Americans who currently lack coverage, cut costs for everyone, and curb some of the most abusive practices by the health insurance industry. We must make sure that all Americans, especially the uninsured and the elderly, have access to the medications they need at a cost that won’t put them on the brink of financial ruin.”

Weiner and Maloney gave these highlights of the new drug price study:

•The top 10 brand name prescription drugs sold in New York City were marked up an average of $146, or 213 percent, compared with Canada.

•The average price for a one-month supply in NYC is $195.70 compared to $62.58 in Canada.

•Crestor, which treats high cholesterol, was marked up the most—$335.29 or 654 percent, compared with Canada.

Cost of Top Ten Most Prescribed Drug Prices in New York City And Canada

DRUG	USE	NYC	CANADA	Markup to
				NYC Consumers
Lipitor	Cholesterol	$152.82 $50.06		205 percent
Nexium	Acid Reflux
	Disease	$112.21	$43.10	141 percent
Lexapro	Depression	$112.21	$43.10	160 percent
Singulair	Asthma and
	Allergies	$204.84 $68.40		199 percent
Plavix	Cardiovascular
	Disease	$189.39 $84.94		123 percent
Prevacid	Acid Reflux
	Disease	$206.65 $65.59		215 percent
Advair Diskus Asthma		$265.48	$65.91	303 percent
Effexor XR	Depression	$157.61 $52.24		202 percent
Crestor	Cholesterol	$386.55 $51.26		654 percent
Vytorin	Cholesterol	$133.09 $82.60		61 percent
AVERAGE
TOTAL:		$195.70 $62.58		213 percent

Source: NYSDOH and www.pharmacychecker.com. Prices based on one-month supply, or 30 tablets. Methodology of the Study:

Using the list of the top 10 brand name prescription drugs, office staff researched drug prices using a Web site run by the New York state Department of Health that lists the top 150 prescription drugs and their retail prices. Staff used the site to get an average of each county in New York City and then calculated the average of all five counties for a New York City average total.

To research drug prices in Canada, staff used the Web site pharmacychecker.com, which lists the retail prices for prescription drugs in Canada. If a price listed in Canada was for a larger quantity, the price of each unit pill was used to calculate the price for the same quantity in both New York City and Canada.