Medication Shortage Cost vs. Opioid addiction

Taylor Cunningham

EH102

Research Paper

10 September 2019

Medication Shortage: Cost vs. Opioid addiction

As of 2019, there are a total of 36,510,207 patients admitted into each of the big hospitals in the United States. With the recent medication shortages in the United States, hospitals are running out of the medicine needed and are having to turn to other solutions that are eventually costing them millions of dollars due to new things that are being tried. Trying new things are sometimes not a good idea because most likely it will lead to deaths and eventually liabilities that will soon be unaffordable for the hospital. As a result of too many people being admitted and some falling sick, there is medication shortage. Since medicine is not enough and patients have to relieve pain, man opt for opioid and they end up addicted. Between the high prices of medication and opioid addiction, the chances of becoming addicted is a daily trial.

First on medication shortage, too many people are admitted in hospitals and it gets hard for the pharmacy to provide enough drugs to the patients. Not only is that an issue, the fact that there are many people that have severe allergies are not able to get their medicine. There was a news report not too long ago that stated that, there was a major epi pen shortage and that several patients were not able to get there prescription every time they went to the pharmacy to pick it up. This is a serious issue because some cases are so server that it leaves them in a life-threatening state. Any of the epi pens that are available are now so costly and unaffordable it is nerve wrecking to know that the medicine that is needed is not available now. Lack of drugs is in turn expensive for the country since hospitals have to looks for alternatives which costs millions of money (Bowles 3). Also, due to scarcity, patients are charged a lot on drugs. The reason is that they up the price so high to the point that it is not covered by insurance and patients aren’t able to pay out of pocket for them as well. Which will eventually lead to the reason that the opioid crisis is up and out of control in the world today.

Lack of medication leaves doctors with no option rather than to prescribe painkillers with opioid being a key prescription in many hospitals. Drugs can be addictive when taken for too long. There was a time opioid was marked to be a hyper reactive drug and scientists suggested that it should not be given as prescriptions (Madras, 441). Opioids are found everywhere including local shops and some people sell them back street for those addicted but cannot obtain a doctor’s prescription. Since patients need to recover from pain and there are less drugs, they tend to write too many prescriptions for patients. It gets worse since some patients turn it to a business where they sell the opioids to addicted victims. Doctors as well make prescription a business since they prescribe and sell the drugs as well. Doctors are key causes of drug shortages and opioid addicted since prescription has become a business.

Medication shortage also comes with the burden of increased medical cost. Many insurance companies have realized that covering for drugs is costly than covering for patients examination and consultation fee. There are few insurance companies which cover for full cost unless one has a comprehensive medical cover which is way expensive for a middle class citizen. Many insurance companies only cover for half the total price. There was a complain that those paying in cash are always charged less compared to those with insurance cards thus these companies are modifying their terms and conditions. Some can a well say no and would only cover for inpatients. All these is as a result of scarcity of drugs and doctors giving too much prescriptions.

Not to forget, business can bloom more if there is plenty of medicine but then there is less thus they get affected too. Many sellers shy off to buy expensive medicine since they end up expiring in the chemists and pharmaceuticals. Who would want to buy expensive pain killers yet one can get opioids easily from the counter? Also, businesses fail because some medicines prescribed are not available since there is drug shortage in the country. It is boring for patients to walk miles just to get one drug. Research in 2017 found out that Shortage medications demonstrated a quarterly price growth of −0.5 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] −1.6, 0.6) in the period preceding a shortage, 4.3 % (95 % CI 3.6, 4.5) during a shortage, and 4.1 % (95 % CI 2.6, 5.5) in the post-shortage period (Alevizakos, Michail, et al. 1556) Medications not affected by a shortage had a quarterly price growth of 0.2 % (95 % CI −0.3, 0.6) (Alevizakos, Michail, et al. 1556). Many patients opt for opioids which can be obtained from corridors and backdoor in some shops. Since opioids are addictive then patients end up using them even after getting well. There are limited medications/ drugs yes there are variety of prescriptions. It is hard to get a drug with more than three required contents indicated by the doctor. Pharmacists end up giving cheap drugs where each one had less than two components. Remember not everyone can take the same medication there are some patients who have allergies. Patients are left with no option than to adjust to the medication shortage crisis.

Conclusively, as a result of medication, patients have to pay the price by using addictive drugs such as opioids. Meth is also addictive and can be made from cough syrup. There has never been an alternative of the cough syrup since funding such projects is expensive. Government should set aside funds for medical research to curb the issue of medication shortages before it becomes a crisis.

Work Cited

Alevizakos, Michail, et al. “The impact of shortages on medication prices: implications for shortage prevention.” Drugs 76.16 (2016): 1551-1558.

Bowles, Susan K. “Drug Shortages: More than Just Background Noise.” The Canadian journal of hospital pharmacy 72.1 (2019): 3.

Madras, Bertha K. “The surge of opioid use, addiction, and overdoses: responsibility and response of the US health care system.” Jama Psychiatry 74.5 (2017): 441-442.