Tanner, Lindsey. Prescription Bottle with Pills. Digital image. To Curb Rising Costs, Experts Call For Ban On Prescription Drug Ads. Huffington Post, 18 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
This past Tuesday, the American Medical Association proposed a ban on advertisements for prescription drugs and medical devices. Their reasoning was to help customers make better and more affordable health care choices.
The AMA believes that drug advertisements create an unnecessarily high demand for expensive treatments that patients sometimes can’t afford, but think they need. And the last thing the AMA wants is for patients to suffer because they can’t afford their medication.
Another reason to ban these advertisements is because pharmaceutical companies are compensating for their advertisement costs with the high costs of the prescription drugs. In the last two years, the United States alone has spent around $4.5 billion on drug advertisements (Grush, Loren).
While the pharmaceutical industry does not support the AMA’s proposal, I do. By banning advertisements on prescription drugs and medical devices, both customers and companies will save money. Plus, customers might actually be able to afford their medications instead of foregoing them.
External Sources:
“American Medical Association Calls for Ban on Prescription Drug Ads.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 17 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
Grush, Loren. “American Medical Association Wants to Ban Ads for Prescription Drugs.” The Verge. N.p., 18 Nov. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
