Individuals Needs When Receiving Medicine

This is my prediction on the needs of individual's

1. Low or sensible prices
2. Cheaper drugs in poorer countries
3. People want drug to be widely available
4. People want safe and effective medicines
5. People want health care should pay most of the cost of medicines

This is why 41-year old Levin needs EpiPen to survive:

Just moments earlier, at the dentist Levin told the clinicians that she was allergic to amoxicillin, an antibiotic that can treat infections, she said. However, they prescribed a medication that was still in the same penicillin family, which she said caused the reaction.

"That's why I need EpiPens, because I don't know what to avoid," Levin said, referring to the portable auto-injector devices used to treat allergic reactions.

Usually she is supposed to carry four."Because of my history, I'm really supposed to have four with me at all times, and when I travel, I'm supposed to have like six or eight," she said. "Usually, one is not enough because the reaction is immediately severe, so there are times where I have to use up to three until I can get help.
And what does that life-saving medication cost her?
"Last year, it's $200 each or even $300." For some, it costs even more.”

Perspective of a 30-year old mother in Cincinnati named Theresa Ray on the price of medicine. She was was surprised to find that purchasing two EpiPen two-packs for her 6-year-old son would have cost her family about $1,300, she said. Her son was diagnosed with food allergies in 2001 "When we first bought them (about five years ago), it was around $100 or $150 for a twinpack, and at that time I remember thinking, 'Wow, that's kind of expensive.' Then, the next year, I found out they expired and we have to get them every year. They were more expensive, but by that time, only a couple hundred dollars," Ray said.’

CNN. (2016) EpiPen cost soars, but it's not the only drug to. [Online] Available from: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/23/health/epipen-price-mylan-prescription-drugs-increase/index.html [Accessed: 23rd January 2017].

Ed Silverman from STAT wrote in his article that roughly 8 in 10 people, from the U.S.A, believes that prescription drugs are absurd. In addition, two thirds of American are in favor of creating an independent group to administer prices of medicine.”71% of Americans believe they should be able to import medicines from Canada,” 9 in 10 people support idea that drug-makers should be required to reveal information on how prices are set.

The survey, which queried more than 1,200 Americans, was conducted in mid-September, shortly after disagreement erupted over Mylan Pharmaceuticals and its pricing strategy for EpiPen but, outrage has hardly been cramped to any one type of company or treatment.The survey also found that 86 percent of Americans believe drug makers should be required to disclose data used to set prices. Only 47 percent of those surveyed favor eliminating prescription drug ads, which gained size attention last year when the American Medical Association publicly called for a ban on such advertising.42 percent support any policy that would encourage consumers to purchase lower-cost drugs by requiring them to pay more for similar, but more expensive medicines.

A few American’s say that they have difficulty paying for medicines. Fifty-five percent reported they are taking prescription drugs and, of those, 73 percent say affordability is not an issue but, 42 percent who say their health is fair or poor did report having difficulty and 37 percent of those currently taking four or more medications say cost is a problem, compared to 19 percent taking less than four medications.

Nine out of ten adults either blame “some” for high cost in healthcare and two-thirds blame them “a lot”  the poll revealed. As a result, the proportion of Americans who support price controls  and medical devices has now increased to 81%.