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Donna C. Bergen, MD

Arch Neurol. 2000;57:273-275.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

WORLDWIDE, access to appropriate drug treatments is limited and largely unplanned. Most limitations are economic, due to regional or personal poverty. In developing countries, for example, over 70% of those with epilepsy have no access to appropriate drug treatment.¹ In the United States and other industrialized countries, powerful economic forces are increasingly setting limits to both group and individual access to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs).

The financial burden of drug costs is staggering. Since 1980, pharmaceuticals have accounted for 8.4% to 8.6% of all health care expenditure in the United States, and in 1994 the cost of pharmaceuticals made up 1.1% of the entire gross national product. Some developing countries spend over 50% of their health care money on pharmaceuticals. Although most insured people in the United States have some form of insurance coverage for drugs, about 40% of all prescription drug expenditure is directly from consumers' . . . [Full Text of this Article]

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

From the Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush Epilepsy Center, Rush Medical College, Chicago, Ill.

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