Kaiser Polls Highlight National Drug Costs

Kaiser Permanente is well known for its excellent health care services.  The Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center recently received several awards including the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, a ranking in U.S. News & World Report as one of the Best Hospitals, and 2015 Women’s Choice Award as one of American’s Best Breast Centers. 

All 14 of Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Hospitals received an “A” from the Leapfrog Group - a national non-profit watchdog organization.

This year Kaiser celebrates 70 years of excellent care, clinical research and community support.   Seventy years ago a young surgeon, Dr. Sidney Garfield, saw that the workers on the Colorado River Aqueduct Project needed medical services.  His 12-bed Mojave Desert hospital would not turn anyone away but cash flow was a problem - insurance companies were often slow to pay - and many workers had no insurance. 

An insurance agency associate suggested the insurance company pay Garfield’s hospital a fixed per day, per worker amount solving the cash flow problem and offering the workers an affordable insurance plan.  The “prepaid” system was born. 

A few years later Dr. Garfield partnered with Henry Kaiser, creator of the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, to expand services to construction, shipyard and steel mill workers.  In 1945 the program was opened to the public.  Today Kaiser Permanente serves 10 million members.

Kaiser is also a leader in researching and addressing national healthcare issues in order to improve the healthcare system.  Kaiser conducts frequent nationwide polls of people over the age of 18 to provide information about a variety of health issues. The August 2015 poll covered one of the most pressing issues effecting American healthcare costs - prescription drugs.

Research and development along with FDA approval of new prescription drugs is expensive.  Drug companies deserve to make a fair return on their work.  Kaiser’s poll showed that while 62 percent of adults believe that prescription drugs make people’s lives better, 72 percent believe that the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable.  To lower the cost, respondents preferred market place competition (51 percent) rather than government regulations (40 percent). 

Specific policies, such as requiring drug companies to release information to the public on how they set their drug prices, was overwhelming supported by 86 percent of respondents.

With federal legislative action unlikely, California is considering AB 463 (Chiu - San Francisco) which would require price reporting for any drug or treatments that cost more than $10,000.  The annual report would include breakdowns for research & development, clinical trials, manufacturing, marketing & advertising, and profits.

Getting this legislation passed won’t be easy.  Drug companies are fighting passage of AB 463.  Last year they contributed $2 million to California state campaigns and $14.8 million to federal campaigns. 

Happy anniversary Kaiser and thanks for helping us understand these important healthcare issues.