Posted on 07/24/2020 1:49:22 PM PDT by rintintin
Pres says he is ordering Medicare to buy Rx drugs at the prices other countries pay. Says it will "end global freeloading" on the backs of American seniors.
(Excerpt) Read more at twitter.com ...
Hell yeah, Wally World did this exact same thing to Pepsi years ago. They dictated we will only pay x number of dollars per case, and said, “if you don’t want your product in our stores that’s on you”.
The age of subsidizing the whole freaking world on our backs is ending!
$100 for 50 test strips, crazy.
Are the boys at the Bulwark going to be mad?
DJT at his finest!
Sounds reasonable to me. I think a lot of lower income black seniors are going to like this, and he should push it among them.
Companies deserve money for drugs theyve developed or promoted, but most of these have been out for years and are for common problems And already prescribed in generic form. So the companies probably dont make a lot of money on them anyway, depending on the patent.
But we need to compensate R&D which is very expensive and can last for years. The pharm companies wont and cant do it unless they get compensated (to pay the microbiologists, in other words).
President Trump make baby Kristol cry.
I don’t recall, but it’s the kind of idiot misinterpretation of “free markets” that they would buy into.
Selling the drugs is not an entitlement. Only getting them.
We can discuss that too, but currently, that’s the way it is.
“Love it. The companies will have to raise the rates of other countries to off-set their losses.”
Other countries have socialized medicine. In order to get a drug approved for the American market the producer of that drug must agree to sell the drug into foreign controlled price markets at a set level. They only sell a preset allotment. When those drugs arrive they are frequently resold over the internet to purchasers in the US at a substantial reduction over the US price. This is why common drugs like heart medications are unavailable in countries like Canada.
Because of the incredibly high cost of getting a drug approved for sale in the US the sales of drugs to other countries are at a loss to the producer. In exchange for doing this, the producer gets to charge whatever they can get in the US market.
If you want to lower the cost of drugs the place to start is with the mandated high costs for getting an approval. Most of what the government insists on is simply wasted money going to “rent” seekers who lobbied that each drug would go through their testing regimen. Because that regimen is proprietary they can charge whatever they want for it. After all, you either use their regimen or your drug does not get approved.
This is a complex issue. For the government to buy at what amounts to less than cost, the drugs would quickly become unavailable because the company would be out of business. This will not happen.
Or, heaven forbid, they might have to make less of a profit.
Keep saying. Big difference between a globalist corporatist greed economy and a reasonably regulated free market economy. Little trust busting could help too.
The result is that other countries will probably see price increases without the captive American consumer subsidy. This is more efficient than asking U.S. customs to stop obstructing re-import of drugs from Canada. It is also good politics.
Presidents have been saying this for decades, as have leaders in the house and senate. Sounds great. No one wants to be ripped off while other countries get better prices. So, why hasn’t this happened?
There are middle men conspiring with the pharmaceutical distributors, paying huge kickbacks in the form of “rebates” while keeping the billable cost high. The system is corrupt, and the system is paying lawmakers, even if indirectly, to look the other way. The Board of Directors of pharmaceutical companies are filled with powerful people in the healthcare industry (a direct conflict of interest), lobbyists, families of politicians, former politicians, etc. The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are a swamp, in and of themselves.
It’s about who’s paying for it.
I can buy insulin at Walmart over the counter for $25 apiece but if insurance pays for it it’s $200.
Yes.
It is the move I have been arguing for.
Big pharma can solve the problem, just quit accepting government dictated prices from other countries, and if those countries don’t like it cut them off from their drugs.
Then we could see who blinks first - big pharma or the other countries.
Many of the largest pharmaceutical companies aren't even based in the US.
Novartis is Swiss, Roche is Swiss, Sanofi is French, and Glaxo is based in the UK. Where they are located doesn't seem to affect their research spending.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.