Before obamacare, the med I take for migraines cost $19 a month - now, I pay $280.
They are “getting away with murder,” and then some.
The lawsuits and the lawyers that pursue them must be brought under control.
“Competition” can, temporarily, lower prices. State ownership can lower them even further.
But neither model addresses capitalization of research and development, which is what is at issue here.
I have had a front-row seat to the development of successful HIV drugs, and of curative therapy for hepatitis C. The production of these drugs isn’t very expensive.
But the discovery of the molecules, their characterization, the medicinal chemistry involved in turning an unstable molecule into a pill that can sit in a bottle on a shelf all costs a fortune. How much of THAT work goes into the price of a pill is a social decision (as s the decision to do it in the first place).
Right now, Americans pay for this service for themselves and the rest of the world. The rest of the world only charges for producing the actual physical pill.
THIS is one reason why there are so many NeverTrumpers in the GOP establishment.
It’s an important example of an area where Trump breaks from them on traditional laissez-faire economics.
On this one most of the American people break with it too, and Trump is a Populist.
We can debate the economic pros and cons, but this is what the people voted for.
Trump’s real problem is with the patent system. The pharma bashers expect drug companies to develop drugs in return for patents and then have their patents effectively rescinded via price controls on the patented drugs. Or via imports fron patent violating countries. If they are going to continue bashing drug companies, Trump and his leftist allies on this issue need to give us a substitute model of drug development. What is it to be? Government financed development?
As soon as Obamacare hit, the cost of my daily meds tripled. Same old snake oil, same old manufacturer. Many new federal pockets to line.