The mounting cost of asthma inhalers and how to curb it with an EzRx discount card

According to a report available in Annals of American Thoracic Society, the yearly medical cost of an asthmatic was more than $3,260 in 2013; so, we can only imagine that this cost may have risen considerably today.

Besides the rising cost of asthma inhalers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that this health condition causes more than $80 billion in add-on annual expenses. These additional expenses come in the form of hospital visits, life-threatening health complications, and missed school or work. And such type of expenses is borne by people who avoid taking their asthma medications, considering their cost.

Asthma inhalers are different from the medicines consumed in the form of pills or taken through injections. It is because an asthma inhaler includes several moving parts that escalate its manufacturing cost. Apart from the drug and its outer canister, an inhaler requires a propellant agent to get the dose moving through the airway toward the lungs. Eventually, the rise in the manufacturing costs of an inhaler increases the price that consumers must pay. As per the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, every asthma inhaler falls into one of the three categories: nebulizers, metered dose inhalers, and dry powder inhalers.

People with insurance can be protected from the full costs of inhalers. But the fact is that most popular inhalers are put in the lower coverage tiers. That means patients with insurance will likely face higher co-pays or would find their medication excluded. Worst of all, the rising cost of asthma unreasonably hit the uninsured and underinsured individuals. A CDC report revealed that in some states, up to 20 percent of the uninsured people are living with asthma; these people are forced to pay for inhalers out of pocket. Moreover, some people lacking insurance are likely to live in lower-income regions where asthma cases are on the rise. When all is said and done, asthma is a budget-breaking condition for most people living in the US.