Just as the banks are doing with credit, the pharmaceutical industry is hastily raising its prices before the new health reform package kicks in.
Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year. ...NYT
This isn't the first time the drug industry has done this. Prices were raised when the new prescription drug plan was introduced during the Bush administration. Over the past year, according to an AARP study and another from a Wall Street analyst, drugs have gone up by 9.3%.
