The high cost of low cholesterol

The high cost of low cholesterol - You've probably heard of new drugs to reduce cholesterol Repatha Praluent and approved by the FDA in recent weeks. Maybe you've even started taking one yourself.

These drugs are miraculous in its ability to reduce LDL (cholesterol low-density lipoprotein), the type that leads to heart disease. But this power comes at a price - literally. Both drugs have an annual cost of about $ 14 600 per year.

The domino effect of drug prices through the roof 

Of course, people who take these medications can not pay the full cost themselves - which will fall to your insurance company. Exactly what a person would have to pay out of pocket depends on your health insurance plan in particular, but many people could end up paying a significant portion of the bill. So if your doctor prescribes these drugs for you, it is important to check with your insurance company about coverage before you start taking it.

But the prices of these drugs can still affect you, even if you take one of them personally. If enough people enrolled in their health plan of the individual, they are prescribed one of these drugs, the total cost of your insurance could be high enough to cause an increase in the premium for all.The high price of new drugs for cholesterol is not unique. New drugs for hepatitis C, arthritis and cancer (called "specialty drugs") are also quite expensive, and together we put a strain on the budgets of health care - and to offset the savings by use of generic medicines cost.

Why new medicines for cholesterol - and other specialty drugs - so expensive? In the US, pharmaceutical companies can set prices based on what the market will bear. Unlike Canada and Europe, the US government can not establish price controls on drugs, so that our drug prices are generally higher than the prices of these same drugs in these regions.

In fact, a new report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (CIRE), which analyzes the cost-effectiveness of the new drug relationship, concluded that the cost of new medicines for cholesterol is too high . ICER recommends annual price tag of $ 2,177.

What to do with new medicines for cholesterol price 

Although we still have no evidence that the new cholesterol-lowering drugs actually reduce the rate of heart disease, for people with a rare genetic form of high cholesterol (called familial hypercholesterolemia, or FH) they are a godsend. But for people who have the most common form of high cholesterol, there are other options, much less than should be tried first.

Change in diet and regular exercise can help reduce cholesterol levels low, and (generic), an inexpensive statin therapy remains the drug of choice for treatment. A drug called ezetimibe (Zetia) can be added to a statin if statin alone is not fully effective.
 
Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both proposed legislation to control drug costs, but it is unlikely that these laws were adopted in the short term. Until then, consumers must be aware of the price of drugs that doctors prescribe for them. Often there are less expensive alternatives that should be considered first.
By: Gregory Curfman, MD