Health Care Benefits

My grandmother worked her whole life and can not afford to buy her favorite foods. Being 80 years old, she is currently on dozens of medications she needs to live. With her health care plan, many of these medications cost only a few dollars. However, those medications, which still have exclusive patents through their pharmaceutical company, can be very pricey. With the low amount of money she receives, it is always a constant battle for her to stay on budget. And due to the prices of some of her medications, she often has to make large sacrifices just to afford her medication that week. Seeing my grandmother driven to choose between her medication or eating a food she likes kills me. However many people do not choose between a special food
Patents and rights of exclusivity allow pharmaceutical companies to hold essentially a monopoly over their drug for a period of time. As a result of this, generic medications can only be produced by other pharmaceutical companies, after a pharmaceutical patent runs out. This time period where pharmaceutical companies hold the patent over their drug is essential to spur the companies to invest in new medications. Without this period, drug innovation would almost halt. No company would be willing to spend the money without the guarantee of reconciliation. Because of this it would be foolish just to shorten the time allowed for a pharmaceutical company to hold a patent. However If we could make research and development of new drugs cheaper, it would still be worth it. By changing the guidelines researchers must follow, we could not only shorten the time but also the cost of bringing a new medication to the marketplace. We could then shorten the period in which pharmaceutical companies could hold their patents, and still have pharmaceutical companies come out on top. This in turn would allow generic drugs to be released sooner, and lower the cost of medication. By working closely in pharmaceuticals I would like to lead major reforms in the pharmaceutical industry to lower the cost of research and development of new medications, in order to make medications cheaper and more accessible to every person who are forced to make these choices, and maybe someday my grandma could buy chocolate, and stay on her