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It's called the "pill penalty," and it's causing a lot of trouble in the medical world.
It's the result of a provision in the 1990 Inflation Reduction Act that requires Medicare to pay 10% of the cost of a new drug when it comes on the marketeven if that drug is made by a single company and costs no more than $10,000, the Wall Street Journal reports.
But when it comes to so-called " biologics," which include cancer drugs and rheumatoid arthritis drugs, Medicare only has to pay 10% of the cost when they're made by a single company and no more than $5,000 when they're made by multiple companies.
"The pill penalty is essential not only for ensuring equitable access to innovative treatments but also for safeguarding public health, particularly in the face of emerging health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases like COVID-19," one doctor writes in an op-ed in the New York Times.
"Marginalized patients, including Black and Hispanic Americans disproportionately affected by certain diseases, rely on easy-to-take pills for effective treatment," he writes.
"The development of single-tablet regimens has been crucial in managing conditions like HIV/AIDS, highlighting the importance of small-molecule drugs in improving health outcomes
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