RX prices continue to rise forcing people to make difficult trade-offs

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Drugs are becoming more expensive. (Credit: CBS News)
Drugs are becoming more expensive. (Credit: CBS News)

For months we have been tracking the battle against high drug prices and the cost of keeping people healthy – it is not becoming any cheaper.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Greg Morgan said.

Morgan lives in the Fort Myers area and plays volleyball as part of a healthy lifestyle.

“I try to take care of myself as well as I can,” Morgan said, “and not have to do medication.”

He does this because the medication is not cheap, especially for his mother, who he said pays an excessive amount. Data shows that less expensive RX solutions are not becoming any better.

Since January, Attention Deficit Disorder medicine jumped more than 100%; a cough medicine by more than 300%; and a generic form of Prozac, which is an anti-depressant, jumped by more than 800%.

The Trump Administration seems to be making progress on the issue. It has implemented a new rule that makes drug companies tell the prices of its products in TV ads.

But Ashley Alvarez, a pharmacy technician in San Carlos Park, still sees the increases every day.

“It is definitely sad to see,” Alvarez said. “Most of the time, prices will go up.”

Prices continue to rise, even as lawmakers are working to bring those costs down, including Congressperson Josh Gottheimer.

“$30,000,” Gottheimer said. “That is what a woman told me at a recent round table I held on prescription drug cost. That she pays every three months for her cancer medication.”

The high prices are all thanks to the market in America, which lets drug companies focus on profits, something Morgan hopes lawmakers will fight against.

“Their efforts are futile,” Morgan said, “because all it’s really about is money and that’s what they’re trying to get.”

Morgan wants to have these prices decrease, so he does not have to make tough choices many other Americans already have to deal with.

“It comes down to can you afford your medication,” Morgan said, “and afford to have your housing or pay your bills and all the other costs of living.”

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