Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
Surprise.
This may explain why insurance companies like Blue Cross are raising our rates 25% and up a year.
This may explain why insurance companies like Blue Cross are raising our rates 25% and up a year.
In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.
The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year.
And mind you, they're already gouging us for prescription drug prices, charging Americans three to five times what they charge Europeans.
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