About Your 'Scripts    

  Last year, my prescription for a triglyceride fighter, 134 mg, jumped from tier 1 to tier 3, without explanation. A few dollars for 90 capsules suddenly became $125. 

   Mrs. Donut is on the same medicine, 160 mg, paying just $9 a quarter. My bad for not spotting this sooner. Our primary care doc said, sure, Jimmy, you can switch to the $9 script, and now the Donuts are living happily ever after.

   Ours was a minor event compared to people in bankruptcy, two thirds of whom have health care costs to blame for all or part of their trouble.

   The National Academy of Sciences calls this "unsustainable." More than half of Americans take prescription drugs, spending about $500 billion a year, or one fifth of the health care bill.

   Spending on drugs is the fastest growing segment of health care costs, greater than inflation and growth in incomes. Our poor suffer most.

   The Academy credits the drug industry with improving health and fighting disease, but found 32 ways to address costs. It says the federal government should apply its purchasing power to negotiate drug prices. 

   It urges Congress to authorize Medicare to negotiate with drug makers, and it calls for more use of generic drugs, and regs to support that goal. A small change in formula can enable a drug company to continue charging its high, initial price long past the regulated end date.

   The Academy also wants more transparency, so consumers can become smarter buyers. Another idea involves restrictions on advertising and contacts with doctors and hospitals. 

Tampa Bay Times

   We wonder if they studied industry lobbyists who donate to members of Congress, maintaining the status quo.

      Jimmy