Generally the drug companies selling "important" but expensive drugs also run their own "access programs" to give the uninsured or other people access to the drug at a much more reasonable price. The whole pharma industry is about price discrimination.
As long as they can keep the list price high, they are ok with selling some units at production cost -- this prevents a major backlash based on a media report of a pretty young white girl dying because her disabled war veteran parents missed a payment. True, it is harder to get into these programs the less "sympathetic" your case would be to the media, and a lot of Hep C patients won't be. From what I've read it is actually easier to get the really expensive high margin drugs for nearly free than the moderately expensive ones.
Medicare/Medicaid would be the true payer for most poor people, though. (Meaning ultimately the taxpayer)
> Generally the drug companies selling "important" but expensive drugs also run their own "access programs" to give the uninsured or other people access to the drug at a much more reasonable price. The whole pharma industry is about price discrimination.
Very true. I'm more familiar with the the costs of Cystic Fibrosis medications, but those are similar to this. Most people with Cystic Fibrosis take medications that would total over $10k/month at full price. This is something they do every month because the disease is not curable. However, with insurance, numerous manufacturer "access programs", and numerous private assistance programs targeted at Cystic Fibrosis, most patients pay much much less, often under $1k/year in total. Depending on the combination of medications and programs, these programs may cover all medication costs entirely.
It's all based on how much you can pay. If you have a lot of money (you need to have well over $100k/year income to be disqualified from many of these access programs) and no insurance, you're going to pay a lot. Otherwise, not so much. I'm sure some people fall through the cracks, but there's a lot of options out there for paying for these types of expensive medications. The more expensive the medication, the more likely there are access programs or assistance programs and the more likely they will cover a larger portion of the cost.
As long as they can keep the list price high, they are ok with selling some units at production cost -- this prevents a major backlash based on a media report of a pretty young white girl dying because her disabled war veteran parents missed a payment. True, it is harder to get into these programs the less "sympathetic" your case would be to the media, and a lot of Hep C patients won't be. From what I've read it is actually easier to get the really expensive high margin drugs for nearly free than the moderately expensive ones.
Medicare/Medicaid would be the true payer for most poor people, though. (Meaning ultimately the taxpayer)