It’s not. That’s what a lot of people don’t understand.
These drugs from Vertex started being approved in 2014. US insurers pretty much covered them from approval. Even Medicaid (health insurance for low income) started paying for it.
Other countries? The UK just started in 2020.
In Canada? Last I checked only 5 of the 10 provinces paid for it and only if you’re under 18.
The US healthcare is expensive for a lot of reasons, and one of them is new technology gets paid for really quickly.
Of course, it's Canada, so you may have private drug coverage and then it depends on province whether you fall back to the public coverage if the private payor doesn't cover it.
> The third-generation of modulators, Trikafta, is a new transformational drug that can treat up to 90% of Canadians with cystic fibrosis. Trikafta was approved for sale in Canada on Friday, June 18th, 2021, by Health Canada for people aged 12 and up with cystic fibrosis and at least one F508del mutation and on April 20, 2022 for those aged six and up. As of September 13, 2022, every province, territory and federal drug program is funding this drug for those six and up. Unfortunately, it is not accessible to all who can benefit from it, and therefore our advocacy work continues
Not necessarily. I don't know about other countries, but I remember there being a campaign here in Ireland (with one of the highest rates of cystic fibrosis in the world) to get Orkambi covered under the Drug Payment Scheme when it was new.
The socialized medicine systems don't have infinite money just like private health systems don't; if they can't negotiate a cheaper price for the medicine they won't purchase it.
(It's not "health insurance". Insurance covers unpredictable outcomes; needing a medicine every month for the rest of your life is not unpredictable.)
'other countries' would not even developed the drug...Vertex, a US pharma company, developed Trikafta. No one is paying the 300k out of pocket. The high price incentivizes research. Expensive drugs seems like a tradeoff for more innovation.
I literally just received a box of Trikafta on Wednesday. My copay was $150 on a $31,855 retail price. (I actually don't pay the $150, due to Vertex's copay assistance)
