Over-the-Counter Drugs!

The FDA, so says reports, is reviewing the possibility of allowing some drugs that now require prescriptions to be sold over the counter.  In other years, I would have said hooray but now I'm not so sure.  I know, from living in Europe for a time, that many drugs here that require prescriptions can be purchased over the counter, which meant a cost savings in doctor's bills as well as the inconvenience of visiting a doctor when all you need is a new prescription for a drug you've been taking for years and will take until you die.

But nothing works here as it does in Europe.  In Europe, I paid 4 euros for a tube of Efudex (a treatment for pre-cancerous skin conditions) over the counter and here, with prescription but without insurance it was close to $200, and with insurance more than $50.  I've been taking acid reflux drugs for well more than ten years and expect to take them for the remainder of my life.  Every month it costs me $20+ for a month's supply of Omeprazole 20 MG over the counter.  Recently, my doctor suggested I increase my dosage to 40 MG, which is not available over the counter.  With insurance my new prescription costs me $6.

Over the counter or prescription, consumers in this country can't win.  The pharmaceutical companies have too much power.  The FDA is correct that more drugs should be available over the counter, but before that happens let's follow the European model on the cost of drugs, imposing a limit on the profit permitted to drug companies.  Drugs are not frivolous and health care should not be a profit-making industry.  Drugs need to be regulated in price as well as outcome.