22 October 2004

Rx buyers afflicted by price inflation

New Yorkers are getting a bum deal at many city pharmacies, according to a major survey of prescription drug prices.

Uninsured customers are being squeezed the most, paying a whopping 75% more than the federal government shells out for widely used medicines, according to a report by the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"Across the board, prescription drugs are just too costly and they're way more expensive than they need to be," said Tracy Shelton, an attorney for the government watchdog group, which surveyed 248 pharmacies in the state, including 133 in the city.

The survey found that drug prices are especially high when compared with Canadian pharmacies, which sell prescription drugs to U.S. customers at 30% to 60% discounts.

Strictly speaking, federal regulations ban the re-importation of drugs from foreign countries. But loopholes in the law have made ordering drugs from Canada hugely popular among bargain-seeking Americans.

The watchdog group's report also shows there are drastic price differences for the same drugs, even when they are sold in the same borough.

One pharmacy in Manhattan charged $94 for the popular asthma drug Singulair, while another Manhattan store charged $164.

Advocates said the price gaps expose a need for better enforcement of state laws, which require pharmacies to post price lists or give them to customers who ask for a copy.

A quarter of all pharmacies did not provide price lists, the study found.

The group's findings contradict a recent survey by the city Department of Consumer Affairs, the agency responsible for enforcing the price list law.

An inspection of 745 drugstores found that 89% of them provided a list "within a reasonable period of time," Assistant Commissioner Pauline Toole told the City Council last week.

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