![]() These products can run into the thousands of dollars per treatment. Historically, when the pharmaceutical industry has complete pricing power and limited competition, companies haven’t been afraid to charge maximally for their medicine. Much of Plan B falls right on two groups that the public has an equal or even lower trust in than Congress-pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies, as well as state governments, several with a notably spotty record of supporting people during the pandemic. The administration must formulate a Plan B. Democrats couldn’t get it done with a bare majority in Congress, and Congress is likely to get less Democratic, not more, after the midterms. The one sure way to fix this-Congress acting on the Biden administration’s $22.5 billion budget request to fight the pandemic-seems more and more remote. It is a still unpredictable and mutating infectious disease with already low vaccination rates, so the effects of this change could prolong the length and severity of the pandemic. Many Americans would take issue with the assertion that the system serves them well, but setting that aside, commercialization is an even bigger challenge with COVID-19. Some might ask, What’s the worry? This is, after all, how the rest of the U.S. Read: America is zooming through the pandemic panic-neglect cycle ![]() For those without insurance, many of whom are in jobs where they are most exposed to the virus, access would likely be much more strained and could disappear entirely. Americans who are insured could begin to see co-payments and deductibles, and may even need prior approvals from insurance companies to get access to highly effective drugs that combat the effects of COVID-19. Instead of no-cost access to vaccines and therapies, drug companies and insurers will decide how much to charge for products such as Paxlovid. This will result in a significant shift in how we fight the pandemic-what is being referred to as “commercialization.” The public has yet to wrap their minds around the implications, and while it seems unlikely that we’ll avoid this fate, there are strategies to lessen the worst potential impacts.Ĭommercialization is a rather bland-sounding term that means that COVID treatments and vaccines would be handled just like everything else in our health-care system. The government will soon run out of options. President Joe Biden’s administration has been shuffling money from other pockets to pay for the new shots after Congress failed to pass a pandemic budget request earlier this summer. Amid the rollout of the new bivalent boosters this winter, the government is due to run out of funds for vaccines and therapeutics. is on the verge of taking a significant step backwards in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. ![]()
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