California Wildfires: Costly for Those Who Can’t Breathe
By: Julia Rozolis-Hill
Wildfires in California are raging out of control. In 2020, Cal Fire reported that the state had 8,112 fires, a 43% jump from a year earlier. And 2021 could be even worse.
The rampant fires displace entire communities, destroy forests, and spew millions of tons of greenhouse gasses into the air. They also bolster the bottom line of many pharmaceutical companies. The reason: steady smoke makes life intolerable for the state’s asthma sufferers.
In Los Angeles, there are now 32 days in a year during which pollution from wildfire smoke reduces air quality, an increase of 230% from a decade earlier, according to the report “Dangerous Air,” produced by the California Newsroom. As millions breathe that air, the number of asthma cases increases, along with the consumption of medications like Symbicort and Xopenex. The problem is particularly acute in Los Angeles, which is ranked at No. 4 for air pollution by the American Lung Association.
Ultimately, these wildfires in The Golden State cause a boom in sales for asthma medication. This leads to a perverse incentive for pharmaceutical companies, where they reap bigger profits from dirtier air.
In the fall of 2018, a year of intense wildfires in Southern California and my freshman year at USC, my asthma took a turn for the worse. I had to receive a breathing treatment every day due to the smoke in the air. Consequently, pharmaceutical companies, such as AstraZeneca, were able to increase sales,. The wildfires led me to seeing an asthma specialist and being put on seven different asthma medications.
With the rise in wildfires comes the rise in medications purchased, which then correlates with the rise in spending for those life-saving inhalers. The article, “Here’s Why Asthma Inhalers Are So Expensive,” displays that from 2013 to 2018 the average price of inhalers increased 35%. One type of medication I take is Symbicort. AstraZeneca makes close to three million dollars in revenue for these medications during these times, but as the patient it is difficult to keep up with the constant cycle of using the inhaler and then buying another.
The information about patients having to repeatedly buy an inhaler once one runs out is the story of my mom and I. In Huntington Beach, my mom’s breathing has been the worst it has ever been especially during this time of year — and even more now with the loaded cargo ships just sitting off the Pacific Coast. She said, “due to the air quality in the fall because of the fire weather, my medication doses and frequency of taking (the inhalers) increases,” therefore, “I have to buy more (inhalers) constantly throughout the months.” For example, when Rozolis-Hill buys eight (four each) Symbicort for two asthmatics in one household, the total cost is $134. Rozolis-Hill also stated that the “cargo ships off the coast have been a significant problem for me. My mom constantly runs the air conditioning and Dyson air purifiers to get cleaner air. My family’s electricity bill is “usually around $110.” But in contrast when they have to run the air conditioning constantly it rises to $280 per month.
My mom and I have the same medical insurance, so when she runs out of medication she has to order Xopenex, Spiriva, or Symbicort (steroid inhaler) and naturally she always does the same for me. We pay $500 in total for all of our inhalers. Our supply lasts about three months, but when the wildfires rage on the three month supply goes extremely fast. This action is what I would consider an asthma-medication indicator — meaning when the wildfire season starts so does the increase in demand for inhalers, as my mom and I are habitually ordering more.
During wildfire season, we range from taking eight to 12 puffs of Xopenex a day. When we take this higher amount of puffs, it is during one of the worst breathing days for both of us. For example, if I were to take eight puffs this would amount to $25 a day. If my mom were to take 12 puffs, this would come out to $38 a day. In total, at our worst breathing times during the wildfire season, we are spending $63 a day just to be able to keep breathing. Out of pocket expenses are also jarring to look at compared to how much AstraZeneca collects during this season. When my mom orders all of our inhalers, it is not just $134 for eight Symbicort, which we both use the most. In total it comes out to $335 every three months — which is quite pricey, considering we have to order those four times a year making the total yearly cost $1,340. Last year in 2020, AstraZeneca made a total yearly cost of $28.5 billion. Why are inhalers that we need to survive so pricey, when what my family pays is quite literally pocket change for AstraZeneca? What the pharmaceutical companies are doing to the patients during the wildfire season, when the asthma-medication indicator keeps rising, is unfair to those that are struggling to keep up with their medications at a more frequent rate.
More fires means more inhalers purchased. More inhalers purchased leads to an asthma-medication indicator within the medical companies — by asthmatics having the need to purchase more inhalers, and electric companies, with the constant running of air conditioning and purifiers simply to be able to breathe clean air. It might never be normal again for asthmatics to live in California during wildfire season, but one thing is for certain — no matter what, the season causes an asthma-medication indicator that illustrates how much more money we tend to spend during this scary time.
Work Cited
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). (n.d.). Stats and events. Cal Fire Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from https://www.fire.ca.gov/stats-events/.
CHICAGO | April 21, 2021. (n.d.). More than 4 in 10 Americans breathe unhealthy air, people of
color 3 times as likely to live in most polluted places. American Lung Association.
Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/sota-2021.
GoodRx. (n.d.). Here’s why asthma inhalers are so expensive. GoodRx. Retrieved October 5,
2021, from https://www.goodrx.com/conditions/asthma/heres-why-asthma-inhalers-are-so-expensive.
PMGroup Worldwide Limited. (2014, March 7). Symbicort. PMLiVE Site. Retrieved October 25,
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