Monterey, CA Should Prescription Drugs Be Free?

View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

I have written a number of times on my blog about the pros and cons of health care reform.  One of the big questions is whether the new Affordable Care Act (health care reform) law will cause people to get better care at a lower cost than they are currently receiving.  Health costs for many government programs have been growing, but growing much more slowly than economists had predicted.  Although some believe this is due to the Affordable Care Act, still others believe that many people, including seniors on a fixed income, just don't go to the doctor as often as they should because they can't afford co-pays, gas and other costs in order to keep them healthy and have the best quality of care.  Both of our Platinum sponsors, Alliance Home Health and Family inHome Caregiving, witness this every day.  There are too many seniors not going to the doctor just because they can't afford the gas and the co-pays.  A new editorial  brought this issue to the forefront.  Published in the New York Times, the article poised the important question, should we just do away with co-pays on important drugs which have proved to be very effective at managing diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and strokes.  I think they should.  The article discusses the fact that doing so could encourage waste.  In other words, why wouldn't everyone sign up to get these drugs for free?  I don't think that they would.  I think that most people are adverse to taking too many drugs, and if you are discouraging  a large portion of the population to take drugs that could result in an expensive hospital visit or something worse, subsidizing $10-$50 per month for their prescription costs would be well worth it over the long run.  The article in the Times was written by an economist from Harvard and he has opened the door to an extremely important debate.  How much free medical assistance should be given to the poor, and is there an easy way to balance the cost-benefit of doing so?

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.