Prescription Medicine and California Health Insurance

Much has been said about the high price of prescription medications – and the high price of health insurance in California. Sometimes reality is different from one’s perception. For example there are many California medical insurance plans which cost under $100 per month. $100 is an amount that would easily fit the budget for most of California’s population that does not have medical insurance.

Regarding prescription medicine, it may be the high volume of medication consumed versus the high cost of Rx. Malcom Gladwell, a reporter for the New Yorker, recently examined the cost of prescription medicine, in an October 25, 2004 article, High Prices:How to think about prescription drugs.

In this article, Gladwell says that the amount that Americans spend on drugs is rising not because prescription drugs cost more, but rather because “more people are taking more medications in more expensive combinations. It’s not price that matters; it’s volume.”

According to Gladwell, the way to reduce the cost of medications is for doctors to prescribe fewer, generic drugs – that will likely be as effective, if not more effective, than all of the well marketed medicine.

We are all to blame for the high cost of prescription medicine. The high cost and high utilization of prescribed drugs increases the cost of California health insurance plans.