Patients will simply be told to do without.
look for another double-digit premium price increase next year.
The beginning of the end of medical research.
I believe the ACA actually prohibits them from doing this. Big Pharma would have killed it otherwise.
Insurers will just refuse to cover these drugs as they do now with certain drugs. So it will come out of pocket and for some people, even if prices are capped, they will not be able to afford the cost.
Insurance companies are annoyed at being pressured to cover drugs like Harvoni, although it is effectively a cure for Hep C.
The public payers (Medi-cal, etc) in particular care only about the cost per instance of care rather than the total cost of patient. They would rather a patient need a liver transplant, which they could deny, down the line rather than cover a pharmaceutical cure for Hep C.
Pricey = Effective
Generic = 10%-15% formula difference - OFTEN INEFFECTIVE!!!
Hurray! How soon before EVERYTHING is FREE? Free! Free! Free!
Free Stuff for Everyone!
If I recall, California’s “Gray” Davis did the same thing on their energy costs to the citizens. The state couldn’t keep up with the growing demand and had to start importing the energy from out of state. Unfortunately the out of state costs kept growing to the point Calif. couldn’t afford it any more and finally had to pass the cost on to the citizens. Their energy bills literally doubled over night.......
The drug companies will raise the price of those expensive drugs to patients in the other states to cover California patients, or raise premiums on everyone. They are not in business to lose money but to maximize profits. I own stock in pharmaceuticals and wouldn’t have it any other way.
California democrats continue to do stupid s***.
Lesson: if you get sick, make sure it’s a disease with a vocal advocacy group, willing to dress up in costumes or whatever it takes to make a spectacle and put political pressure on payers to cover the most effective treatments.
The price of these hep C drugs in dropping due to competition.
When Gilead came out with theirs, they thought they had a monopoly and could charge anything they liked. Then AbbVie came out with one and got a big contract by offering a deal. Once a third one comes along, the pressure to cut the prices will be enormous.
What a bunch of sick $*&&S. Mandating insurance, raising premiums, cutting back on covered meds, and if you can’t afford health insurance you are penalized and if you can’t afford the meds you die.
My understanding is that one of the main drivers of high drug prices in the US is the fact that OTHER countries, such as Canada, impose price controls (as California is doing now). This means that the US consumer pays the difference when they buy the same drugs here. So we subsidize their lower prices.
Are there any Freepers with insider knowledge in this area that can confirm this?
I, and probably others here, have prostate cancer.
Two new drugs became available recently, Xtandi and Zytiga. They suppress androgen production from the adrenals.
List price for them is around $7,000 per month. You have to be in the 0.1% wealth level for that not to matter. Very few retail buyers. Medicare knocks 80% off of this, but $1,400 per month would be painful for most of us.
On the other hand, these drugs in conjunction with other therapy extend life considerably.
If drug developers cannot make a profit from the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to bring a new drug to market, they simply won’t do it.
Price caps = shortages
ALWAYS
Because price controls work.
Because price controls work.
Nice, but the government does not have the right to set prices, minimum or maximum.