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Cassidy Lumpkin
Professor Sheila Fielding
WRTC 103
11 October 2015
The Rise in the Price of Prescription Drugs
In the ever changing field of pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs are often overpriced.
The article, Prescription Drug Prices Are Increased by Unnecessary Regulations, was written
by Devon M. Herrick and published in 2014 in Current Controversies. The argument presented
in this piece discusses prescription drugs prices being raised to excessive amounts due to
regulations set by drug retailers. Cassidy Lumpkin, a freshman currently attending James
Madison University, created the PSA titled Taking Prescription Drugs?. The PSA could be
published as part of an Rx Outreach program since they are the non-profit organization who
sponsors the ad. The verbal argument made by Devon M. Herrick and Cassidy Lumpkins PSA
both rely on the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos to clearly state that prescription drugs are
priced at unreasonable amounts.
In the article, Herrick claims prescription drug prices have been increased by unnecessary
regulations and are considered overpriced. A reason for the increasing drug plan regulations is
the need to prevent drug plan managers from excessively marking up medications at the expense
of patients and health plans. The intended audience is prescription drug consumers in America
and the makers and distributors of the drugs. The author targeted this specific audience because
almost all Americans are prescribed medications at some point in their lives and should be aware
of the increasing costs for the future.

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Ethos is a way of convincing someone of the reliability of the author. In the beginning of
the article, Devon M. Herrick establishes credibility by stating, [he] is a senior fellow at the
National Center for Policy Analysis [and] an expert on twenty-first century medicine (Herrick).
He writes regularly [about the] health policy for the NCPA and other research organizations, and
is a contributing editor of Health Care News ("Devon M. Herrick, Ph.D."). In his article, he
includes examples about incidences in specific states. For example, he states, Mississippi
transferred regulatory authority over drug plans from the states insurance commissioner to the
Board of Pharmacy (Herrick). Providing information about specific cases adds to the authors
credibility because it shows he has participated in outside research and has a broad understanding
of the topic.
Logos is an appeal to logic and a way of convincing through reason. The author provides
statistics about the usage of prescription drugs in America. Herrick states, Americans filled an
estimated 3.8 billion retail prescriptions in 2011-about 12 per person in the United States, on
average. He also says, Sixty percent of all Americans take a prescription drug in any given
year, and nearly all seniors do (Herrick). Including these statistics is necessary because it
provides insight as to how many people are affected by this issue. Herrick also mentions how
prescription drugs are affected by government acts in his article. He states, Drug coverage is
expected to increase as states expand Medicaid eligibility and millions of Americans obtain
health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act (Herrick). Herrick provides an example that the
average Medicaid dispensing [costs] range from $1.75 in New Hampshire to $10.64 in
Alabama, [which] average[s] about $4.22 for each prescription across the country. His evidence
is reinforced by his reasoning through his use of statistics, direct governmental components, and
factual examples.

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Pathos is an appeal to emotion and by creating an emotional response to convince the audience.
In the verbal argument made by Herrick, there are a few examples of pathos that provoke anger
in the audience. For instance, he explains that some states are passing laws that interfere with the
drug plans program to reward customers who use the mail order option by restricting the drug
plans from offering lower prices. The cost for consumers, insurers and employees is raised as a
result which leads to anger because the customers were promised something and it was not
provided. Herrick says, State officials and state legislatures often yield to political pressure and
set dispensing fees that are much higher than what private drug plans could negotiate if allowed
to do so. This is another example of pathos because it is the duty of the state officials and
legislatures to sufficiently do their job and not succumb to peer pressure because the consumers

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will suffer, which causes anger to arise.

In this PSA, Cassidy Lumpkin presents and image of a person holding several prescription
drug bottles. The image communicates to the viewer that the ad is about medicine.

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In the PSA created by Cassidy Lumpkin, the intended audience is prescription drug
consumers. The creator is trying to motivate them to find out more information on the costs of
medication and how much they are paying. The background image is dominant because the color
of the bottles is orange and the rest is white or skin colored so the focal point centralizes on the
prescription bottles. Another key component in the PSA is the font and text used. Cassidy used
the basic text color of black, but by changing the different sizes of certain words she emphasized
their importance to the audience.
Similar to Devon M. Herricks verbal argument, Cassidy Lumpkin uses ethos, logos and
pathos to display a powerful message within the ad. The creator of the PSA, Cassidy Lumpkin,
establishes ethos, or credibility, by linking the content within the ad to a legitimate nonprofit
organization called Rx Outreach. The creator is well educated about the argument of prescription
drug prices being unnecessarily high. However, she does not demonstrate respect for the other
viewpoints because she mainly intends to display the side opposed to highly priced drugs. The
PSA is presented in a professional manner because it asks questions and states facts rather than
demand the audience to believe something they dont know. Also, the word choice used by the
creator is appropriate because it is easy for the audience to understand.
Logos, or logic, are present in the PSA created by Cassidy because of the use of statistics
and quotations. For instance, 1 in 10 adults skip medications due to cost (US News) is located
in the lower right hand corner of the PSA. The quotations emphasize that the statistic is from
another source and not fabricated. Including statistics supports and specifies the reasoning of the
claim that prescription drug prices are too expensive. The argument presented in the PSA is
clearly organized and easily comprehendible by the viewers.

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Pathos, or emotion, are located in various areas and different ways in the PSA. As
mentioned before, the background image is meant to engage the audience and give them a
general basis for what the ad is about. The orange pill bottles bring the viewers attention to the
center of the picture and the hands that hold them direct the viewers attention to them. The text
is all the same color but some words are bigger than others. This was meant to provide the
audience with a deeper sense of importance about what was written on the PSA. The creator is
knowledgeable enough to know that most Americans consume prescription drugs and she uses
that to appeal to the audience and establish a personal connection.
The verbal argument by Devon M. Herrick and PSA by Cassidy Lumpkin reveal two
separate explanations of the same topic. Through the rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and
pathos, they are able to create different arguments that are still valid. In the verbal argument,
Herrick emphasizes the key factors that have lead to the increase in prescription drugs prices.
However, in the PSA Cassidy highlights the important questions the audience should ask
themselves to evaluate if they are overpaying for their medications. The verbal argument is more
powerful because an audience is more likely to engage in the topic of prescription drugs after
reading about the statistical facts and explanations than in the PSA. The PSA is not as
informative as the verbal argument, it is more visually appealing. The verbal argument article
and the PSA are both memorable texts that use rhetorical appeals to create perceptive viewpoints.

Works Cited

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"Devon M. Herrick, Ph.D." Devon M. Herrick, Ph.D. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
Herrick, Devon M. "Prescription Drug Prices Are Increased by Unnecessary Regulations."
Prescription Drugs. Ed. Sylvia Engdahl. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014.
Current Controversies. Rpt. from "Unnecessary Regulations that Increase Prescription
Drug Costs." National Center for Policy Analysis. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
6 Ways to Stop the Price of Prescription Drugs from Skyrocketing. Digital Image.
ThinkProgress. Web. 11 October 2015
"Welcome to Rx Outreach." Rx Outreach. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.
US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015.