Prescription Drug Question - Reading Comprehension
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Prescription Drug Question Reading Comprehension
     Prescription Drug Question reading comprehension (sample is shown below)


Prescription Drug Question
By Mary Lynn Bushong 		  
1     Trevor helped unload his grandmother's groceries and put them away in the cabinet. He looked around for more.
 
2     "Where is the rest of the food?" he asked.
 
3     The older lady's face flushed, and she pretended to check the cabinet. "It looks like everything is here. I don't really need much food," she smiled at him. "Besides, the doctor says I need to lose a few pounds. I can't spend all my money on food. I have to buy my medicine and pay bills too."
 
4     Trevor nodded his head that he understood, but he didn't. The cupboard wasn't full. Did his grandmother go hungry sometimes? He wanted to ask, but he didn't know how.
 
5     It might paint a bleak picture, but it is one that is similar for some of the elderly who experience it every day. The cost of prescription drugs is a hot topic on Capitol Hill and in state houses all over the country. It doesn't affect just the elderly either. Many of the working poor have the same problem.
 
6     Where does the problem lie? Many are quick to blame the drug companies, saying their profit margins are too high. The drug companies are quick to respond that their costs to produce the drugs are high.
 
7     Developing new drugs is not a simple or inexpensive feat. Chemists and doctors spend years trying to find the correct balances of chemicals to produce the one new drug for which there is a specific need. Once a new drug has been designed, it has to be tested, often for months or years. Sometimes millions of dollars are invested in a potential drug that never works out. Sometimes a promising drug does not work as they thought, and it has to be sent back to research, costing even more money.
 
8     If a new drug does work in trials, it is sent to the FDA for approval. Sometimes the FDA will approve a drug but will require the company to continue studies on effectiveness. Such a study can add an extra 95 million dollars to the cost of the new drug.
 
9     Drug companies realize that if they ignore people and government officials who argue their prices are too high, that the government may end up trying to do something about their prices. To try to appease these protests and to avoid any new laws or regulations that could come about, they have done a few things to try to lower prices.

Paragraphs 10 to 19:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
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