When 22-year-old Cole Schmidtknecht walked up to the pharmacy counter, he learned his Advair Diskus inhaler had jumped from under $70 to over $500. He walked away without the medicine.
Within a week, he suffered a severe asthma attack and went into cardiac arrest. He died on Jan. 21, 2024.
A young man was caught in a healthcare system where no one asked, “What happens to the patient?”
OPINION: THE PSYCHEDELIC IBOGAINE HELPED ME HEAL AFTER COMBAT
Cole’s family alleges that a pharmacy benefit manager formulary change caused the inhaler he relied on to become unaffordable. No one communicated it.
I’ve spent over 20 years inside the prescription drug supply chain helping employers understand where their healthcare dollars go. Prescription drugs can make up nearly 40% of companies’ healthcare spending.
Somehow, the middlemen originally created to help lower drug costs are instead profiting from high drug prices.
Nearly 80% of U.S. prescription
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