Why can a dose of scorpion anti-venom cost $100 a vial in Mexico and $10,000 in Merica? Same with a 90 day course of Hep-C drugs that are $90,000 here and $1000 in India. exact same items mind you. The difference is the Government allows and promotes price fixing here. There should not be a sliding scale for pharmaceutical prices based on where you live in the world.
Another example is the Oklahoma SCenter, which began posting prices a few years ago. Their surgeons are not taking price cuts, but their model allows them to charge much less than traditional hospitals./> http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/a-new-health-care-approach-dont-hide-the-price/?_r=0
“On NewChoiceHealth.com, which compares prices offered by different facilities in the same city, Smith’s prices are consistently the cheapest or near it in Oklahoma City. Several hospitals charge $17,200 for laparoscopic hernia repair — for which Smith charges $3,975. A gallbladder removal is $24,000 at some hospitals in the city; it’s $3,200 at the Surgery Center. His prices are better in part because ambulatory surgical centers are cheaper than hospitals (for many reasons), but also there’s a virtuous circle here. He can post his prices because they are good ones. And they are good because he’s chosen to compete on price”
Again, it is irrelevant. That will barely make a 12 pct drop even if it comes through. 80 does not equal 12.
Nonsense - the difference is the U.S. government issues patents for new drugs, and doesn't block drug companies from pricing patented drugs so as to recover not just per-unit production costs, but also the costs of developing those drugs and the drugs that never made it to market. If drug companies can no longer do this, there will never be another new drug developed.