The Prevention through Affordable Access Act is a bill at Federal level. This has been introduced in the House (HR.4054) and the Senate (S.2347). It was introduced in the House of Representatives by Mr. Crowley, a democratic representative from New York, and he gained the support of 36 cosponsors from both parties. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Restoring of Nominal Pricing (section 1927) of the Social Security Act. The Senate proposal aims "to restore and protect access to discount drug prices for university-based and safety-net clinics." Mr. Reid introduced the bill for Senator Barack Obama, Democrat from Illinois, to the Senate. Currently Senator Obama sponsors the bill.
This is an issue because it will primarily affect individuals with inadequate access to health care including families with low incomes, university students that utilize their health center as their primary source of health care, and protects their providers from absorbing the increasing cost. In the future, this issue could affect the community as a whole, by providers using the most cost efficient instead of using the most efficacious drug for each patient. If the cost of drugs continues to inflate and is not stopped by this legislation then some health care consumers may not be able to afford drugs at all.
5 comments:
This is a very important topic because it will benefit people in their ability to afford drugs and this can be used to prevent further health complications and increased costs.
Prevention is the best treatment and this bill give people access to drugs that can improve their health and possibly prevent bigger health problems. Drug companies make enormous amounts of money while many people cannot afford to pay for prescriptions that improve their quality of life. As nurses, we interact with patients in a way that allows us to determine barriers for patients, such as low income, who some see as "non compliant" and advocate for them.
The subject or your blog is very relevant to both patients and nurses, as well as the political race this year. Drug costs affect everyone and all aspects of healthcare. I think it will be interesting to see how our support for this topic will play out in Washington. It is also very interesting that Senator Obama supports this bill, and I am curious to see how it progresses through the legislature. I am often curious because of the intense presidential debate, how Mccain feels about this issue, and what he would proposes to combat the problem.
In nursing school we are repeatedly told that prevention is the best treatment for a wide variety of diseases that can be compromising to one's life. This bill could help improve the health of the United States as a whole by allowing individuals and families with low income to have access to health care that could potentially be vital to their life. Medications, if able to obtain and taken properly, can decrease the number of hospitalized patients. The number of hospitilized patients, especially the ones that could be avoided are contributing to the great nursing shortage that currently exists in our health care system.
You are absolutely right, Katie. As students we have learned the incredible disproportion of funding to tertiary care and the steadily increasing need for staffing (especially nurses) at the hospital level.
Preventative care is crucial and often involves costly medications, leaving many unable to afford the increasing cost of their prescriptions and resulting in poor compliance with medication or noncompliance, knowing that when the condition becomes poor enough that hospital care will not be denied. These preventable hospitalizations play a role in the increasing nursing shortage across the board.
Much of the discussion over this bill involves the cost of contraception. In the broad picture, unplanned pregnancy is accompanied by costly medical needs including prenatal care, hospital delivery, treatment for complications, and supplies. Persons who cannot afford their contraception are even less likely to be able to afford an unplanned child.
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