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According to PIRG.org, Americans on average pay 102% more for prescription drugs than people in Mexico. Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs. For a long time, money matters have been a matter of life and death. When people are forced to make decisions between buying their prescription drugs and paying bills, free market capitalism has gone too far. The practice of Americans being expected to put up with astronomical drug prices, forced to go to other countries for lower prices, and drug companies making ludicrous profits has to stop. America is no longer the land of the free, it is home to those repressed by greedy over-capitalist corporations who hold in their hands a monopoly on life. Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs, and to make matters worse, prescription drug prices are on the rise. Prescription drug prices have risen at a rate of approximately four point two times faster than inflation rates (pirg.org). This is much too fast. The average price of a prescription drug is now $45 per prescription (Zhang 1). It does not need to be stated that drug prices need not be rising this fast. Drug prices should rise at a steady rate that is concurrent with inflation; instead they rise at exponential rates whenever their companies are given the chance. It is the fault of the companies that the prices rise so fast, but it is the fault of the government that it continues to happen unchecked. Without proper government regulations, many companies will do whatever it takes to make excessive profits. If this means monopolizing or other immoral business practices then it will be done. Everyone is affected by the rising prices, especially those on Medicare. People on Medicare, who make up 13 percent of the population but use 39 percent of the drugs, now pay an average of over $1000 a month on prescription drugs out of their pocket (Zhang 1). Drug companies spend big money, $18 million in the last election, to get who they want into political office. Who they want, as far as most of their spending goes, are members of the Republican Party.
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