Thursday, August 25, 2016

A Point of Accuracy about Epipens

Please forgive my annoying INTJ personality type that causes me to mention this, but the cost of an Epipen is not related to the cheap medication, but to the pen's storage and delivery system that is anything but cheap.  People who are arguing that the medication costs very little and, thus,
the Epipen should be inexpensive are comparing apples to drywall.

Epinephrine is a notoriously unstable pharmaceutical.  The fact that a combination storage and delivery system for such a medication has been invented, and that it can be easily carried and employed in an emergency, even by children, is a remarkable achievement.  That's what one is paying for.

Also, please note that the "Affordable" Care Act includes a new tax on medical devices, which includes the Epipen, so when politicians begin to flatulate about how they're going to fix the problem, remember that they're the ones who created the problem.