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Old 07-21-2022, 10:40 PM
 
4,517 posts, read 4,062,727 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by workingclasshero View Post
this has been "talked" about since the time of Reagan....


one of the biggest obstacles, is that we are supporting the rest of the world, countries like Canada, France have made agreements with the drug companies, and unfortunately we get stuck supporting their cost coupons




this is from 2018 when trump was trying




no matter who proposes it, or who wants it, it will be a challenge, as we could end up screwing other countries, or end up decreasing innovation
Decreasing innovation. I highly doubt that the people developing the meds are raking by in the $$$

There is.a lot of government funding for drug research.

Also American life expectancy is flat or dropped. So what is all this innovation getting us???
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Old 07-21-2022, 11:22 PM
 
5,749 posts, read 3,529,556 times
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About 25 years ago, WalMart slashed the price of hundreds of drugs, to a small fraction if the going price, most for under $5 per refill. What happened?
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Old 07-21-2022, 11:33 PM
 
Location: Long Island
32,816 posts, read 19,365,703 times
Reputation: 9616
Quote:
Originally Posted by arr430 View Post
About 25 years ago, WalMart slashed the price of hundreds of drugs, to a small fraction if the going price, most for under $5 per refill. What happened?
walmart, walgreens, and cvs still have prescription plans
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Old 07-21-2022, 11:43 PM
 
31,847 posts, read 14,835,654 times
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It doesn’t matter. It’s all about the insurance you have and how much they make you pay. If you work for a company who covers your insurance, you’ll be fine.
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Old 07-22-2022, 06:58 AM
 
9,382 posts, read 4,222,969 times
Reputation: 10374
Quote:
Originally Posted by TMSRetired View Post
The bigger question is WHY drugs are more expensive in the US ?

Why is insulin so much cheaper in Mexico Same brand is 1/10 of the cost in Mexico.

That is what government should be investigating.
This. We need to determine why drug prices are so high in the US. Statements like "the drug companies and their executives make too much money" aren't helpful. I'm guessing our high prices have to do with excessive regulation and a very litigious climate. The cost of paying out for lawsuits, frivolous or otherwise, is built into the cost of the drugs. Many people seem to have the idea that winning a lawsuit against a big company is "sticking it to the man". Nope. Mostly, the only people who pay the price for lawsuits are consumers.

Figuring out how to control the price of something legally is going to be difficult. We're a capitalist society and knee jerk solutions like "We'll just pass a law putting caps on prices" won't end well.

I don't pretend to have the answer, but I've seen some low hanging fruit that could reduce drug prices. For example, there are people whose job is to drive around all day visiting doctors with the intention of getting them to prescribe a brand name (more expensive) drug manufactured by the company they represent instead of a generic or other brand. Sometimes all it takes is a round of golf and the doctor will start "encouraging" patients to use a more expensive drug. These "drug reps" bring nothing to the party and are paid quite well ($150K+).
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Old 07-22-2022, 09:09 AM
 
761 posts, read 436,470 times
Reputation: 785
Quote:
Originally Posted by workingclasshero View Post
this has been "talked" about since the time of Reagan....


one of the biggest obstacles, is that we are supporting the rest of the world, countries like Canada, France have made agreements with the drug companies, and unfortunately we get stuck supporting their cost coupons




this is from 2018 when trump was trying




no matter who proposes it, or who wants it, it will be a challenge, as we could end up screwing other countries, or end up decreasing innovation
I tried to make sense of your quotes and the article but it might as well be in a foreign language.

For example: 1. "Externally referencing prices to 16 other high-income countries."

That's from your link. What does that entail? Let me guess. The U.S. takes note of what the prices are in other countries and then we lower our prices to match theirs? Those countries have price controls so if we lower our prices to match theirs, we will be adopting their price controls. We will become socialists like them in the name of fairness?

Maybe I got it wrong but that sentence could mean anything.
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Old 07-22-2022, 09:56 AM
 
761 posts, read 436,470 times
Reputation: 785
Quote:
Originally Posted by odinloki1 View Post
Decreasing innovation. I highly doubt that the people developing the meds are raking by in the $$$

There is.a lot of government funding for drug research.

Also American life expectancy is flat or dropped. So what is all this innovation getting us???
What you mentioned above doesn't happen in a vacuum. There's a lot more to it than that. Let's take the following drug company, Viatris, as an example. In 2021 they reported having 46,000 workers, most of whom are highly educated research doctors, technicians, marketing managers etc. If drug prices are lowered, where will the money come from to meet the weekly payroll for those 46,000 workers?

At first they might get the money by lowering stock dividends, but the stockholders are the people who own the company, and when the company isn't doing well, they will sell their stock. That means the company is gradually being sold off. When it gets to the point where no one wants to buy the stock, that's the end of the company.

To answer your statement concerning life expectancy, a lot depends on the average lifestyle being practiced by Americans.

About innovation: Stock analysts say that Viatris has a lot of good drugs being developed and that costs a lot of money. It's not being paid for by the government.

Personally, I'm not waiting for new drugs to be developed to give me a longer life expectancy. I put full responsibility on my lifestyle, not the drug companies and not genetics.

Last edited by LongevitySeeker; 07-22-2022 at 10:09 AM..
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Old 07-22-2022, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Sector 001
15,932 posts, read 12,190,637 times
Reputation: 16097
About as likely as legislation to prevent investors buying up real estate, whether it be corporations or individuals turning homes into AirBNBs and rentals.

Diehard capitalists would say that's the "free market" and no protections are needed. I now see that philosophy is flawed, because when wealth concentrates too much, it tends to lead to societal collapses, looking back at history.

Should we place price controls in prescription drugs? It's an age old debate... die hard capitalists would say no, but what happens if only 3 companies make a product and they decide to quietly collude to raise the prices? That's happening more and more these days with large corporations. Insulin prices are needlessly high. All the major cell phone makers have very high margins on their flagships... they all rose prices together. These are a couple of examples.

I guess if people are willing to pay... the extra disposable income that goes towards that flagship phone or insulin won't go somewhere else. Give and take. Insulin is a necessity though.... a flagship phone is not. A lot of prescription drugs are overprescribed though.

I think newly patented drugs should be able to charge whatever until the patent runs out, otherwise there's no incentive to develop new drugs. It's only after the patent expires, if it looks like there is obvious collusion, that action might be needed. There is large barrier to entry for a company to develop a drug product compared to other products... as far as other companies coming in to produce their own insulin, or whatever the case may be.
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Old 07-22-2022, 10:24 AM
 
Location: Free State of Florida
25,249 posts, read 12,389,897 times
Reputation: 18879
Quote:
Originally Posted by TMSRetired View Post
The bigger question is WHY drugs are more expensive in the US ?

Why is insulin so much cheaper in Mexico Same brand is 1/10 of the cost in Mexico.

That is what government should be investigating.
Big Pharma does most of the R&D in the USA, so takes that expense only on meds sold in the USA & doesn't add it onto meds sold elsewhere because they figure Americans can afford it more than the rest.

Its all in the way Big Pharma allocates overheads. We are paying nearly ALL the R&D for the meds produced here and elsewhere that are sold globally.

Trump did get Congress to pass a law allowing U.S. citizens to buy drugs online from Canadian pharmacies. I'm not sure if it was all drugs, or just some.

Free global markets for drugs will drive prices down...competition. That is the answer.

Gov't inflicted price controls will result in scarcity and increase pay-to-play corruption (if its even possible to have more than we already have).
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Old 07-22-2022, 10:58 AM
 
Location: Vancouver
18,490 posts, read 15,366,785 times
Reputation: 11929
Quote:
Originally Posted by beach43ofus View Post
Big Pharma does most of the R&D in the USA, so takes that expense only on meds sold in the USA & doesn't add it onto meds sold elsewhere because they figure Americans can afford it more than the rest.

Its all in the way Big Pharma allocates overheads. We are paying nearly ALL the R&D for the meds produced here and elsewhere that are sold globally.

Trump did get Congress to pass a law allowing U.S. citizens to buy drugs online from Canadian pharmacies. I'm not sure if it was all drugs, or just some.

Free global markets for drugs will drive prices down...competition. That is the answer.

Gov't inflicted price controls will result in scarcity and increase pay-to-play corruption (if its even possible to have more than we already have).
Big Pharma goal is profit. They only do R&D on drugs that they believe have a market value.

"Factors Influencing R&D Spending. The amount of money that drug companies devote to R&D is determined by the amount of revenue they expect to earn from a new drug, the expected cost of developing that drug, and policies that influence the supply of and demand for drugs.
The expected lifetime global revenues of a new drug depends on the prices that companies expect to charge for the drug in different markets around the world, the volume of sales they anticipate at those prices, and the likelihood the drug-development effort will succeed."

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57126

Trump did NOT get congress to allow US citizens to buy drugs online. Americans have been buying drugs online way before Trump.

What Trump tried to do, and failed, was to get the US to import cheaper drugs from Canada. As if Canada would have no say. Well it didn't work out that way, because Canada said no.

At the time of this story back in 2020, Canadians were laughing at the hypocrisy of some in the US. Crying out against Universal Healthcare, and then need a country with Universal Healthcare, as a solution for their own high drug prices. I'm still laughing.

https://khn.org/news/trump-approves-...-of-the-price/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKCN1UD2LN
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