cost of prescription drugs: a wake-up call

[Guest guest]

The true versus perceived cost of prescription drugs: a wake-up call

It’s clear from a recent Interactive healthcare poll that U.S.

consumers’ perceptions regarding the price of healthcare services and

products deviate greatly from the true cost of everything from medical

tests and surgical procedures to hospital stays and prescription drugs.

(8/10/2004)

The poll, conducted among a nation-wide cross section of 2,366 U.S.

adults in late June 2004, asked consumers to estimate the cost of common

services and products and garnered some surprising results.

“As we move toward a world of ‘consumer directed healthcare’ adults will

be asked to make more decisions about how to spend their healthcare

dollars,” Binns, Senior Vice President at Interactive

said. “Making choices requires some basic knowledge about the costs

associated with the various health-related products and services. These

findings underscore the extent to which that level of knowledge is

lacking among consumers.”

And while consumers tended, on average, to underestimate the cost of

most other healthcare services, including medical tests, surgical

procedures and hospital stays, when asked to estimate the total monthly

costs of a leading, name brand statin and a leading, name brand high

blood pressure medication, consumers estimated the drugs’ prices to be

nearly 50% higher than their actual average monthly cost.

The study’s results illustrate the problem – and the answer – to much of

the reasoning among consumers (and more than likely lawmakers, too) to

the ongoing prescription pricing debate. They underestimate the cost of

other healthcare services and overestimate the cost of prescription

drugs (which as we know often help them avoid those more costly

services), mentally creating a “great divide” between perceived value

and cost that’s difficult to traverse.

Whatever we’re saying to demonstrate the true value and real cost of

prescription medicines to consumers either isn’t being heard or is

losing something in translation. No wonder patients think they’re being

over-charged for pharmaceuticals – they perceive the cost to be 50%

higher than reality.

If they thought they were paying 50% more for clothing or cars or

groceries than they really were, they’d be screaming price-gouging at

those industries, too. Prescription price differentials between the U.S.

and Europe aside, cost misperceptions are the crux of the problem on

prescription pricing.

And although we think the message should be coming through loud and

clear on the value of prescription medicines, it’s obvious it’s time to

re-evaluate what we’re saying and how we’re saying it because our

message – and reality – is getting lost somewhere along the way.

http://www.eyeforpharma.com/index.asp?news=42863