By Brandi Aurelio Drug-makers rang in 2019 with price hikes on a whole lot of medications, with more increases to be expected in the coming months. Twenty-eight separate drug-makers filed notifications with California in November announcing their plan to increase the prices of their drugs by an over...

By Brandi Aurelio

Drug-makers rang in 2019 with price hikes on a whole lot of medications, with more increases to be expected in the coming months. Twenty-eight separate drug-makers filed notifications with California in November announcing their plan to increase the prices of their drugs by an overall average of about 6 percent. This is a substantial hike. The increase in the prices is coming at a faster rate than the rate of inflation or wage increase. So really, medication prices are getting more expensive quicker than we can pay for them! No matter what, we, as consumers, will or already have felt the effect from this.

The price increase goes against President Trump’s self-declared plan to halt Big Pharma increases. Originally, companies delayed the price hike, but ultimately began raising their prices anyways. The increase is expected to generate around $20 billion this year alone.

So far requests to lower prices and resulting to extremes like public shaming haven’t worked with Big Pharma. Many of the big name companies producing well known drugs have declined to comment on the price hike. Others are saying that the rise in price does not directly equate to more profits for the companies. Though, it is hard to see how not.

Companies manufacturing the drugs are claiming that they must raise prices to fund the development and production of more medications. Why should consumers be forced to pay more when they are getting the same old product? The medications haven’t had any changes. There aren’t more pills in the RX bottle. Many people need these medications to live. They can not simply stop taking them because of the cost. But it is not fair, especially for those who cannot afford it. Do you have an opinion on this topic, or have you noticed the price of your medication going up? We want to hear from you! Email us at submit@yourhwh.com.