Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Source: Big Pharma ushers in new year with price hikes on hundreds of drugs
More than three dozen drug companies welcomed the new year with sweeping price hikes on hundreds of medicines, according to a new analysis from Rx Savings Solutions, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The drugs that saw list-price increases on January 1 ranged from generics and blood-pressure drugs to brand-name prescriptions such as the dry-eye treatment Restasis. The average price jump blew past inflation at 6.5 percent, with some medicines seeing double-digit increases—bucking many drug companies' vows to keep such periodic hikes under 10 percent.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday January 03 2019, @11:04PM (3 children)
Yes, it is. I agree. Let's try a better one with less side effects first though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday January 04 2019, @01:38AM (2 children)
What do you propose as an alternative way to bring costs down with less side effects, since single-payer is apparently out? I can think of a few alternatives, but none of them seem to quite work:
- Curtail patent protection for pharmaceuticals so market competition drives prices down? That's a pretty big change, and a pretty big side effect is that it eliminates the incentive of drug companies to develop new drugs rather than wait for somebody else to develop new drugs.
- Some sort of system based on the private insurance companies negotiating prices down? That's the status quo, and the status quo by your own admission isn't working.
- Price controls set by the government? That's pretty darn intrusive government meddling. Also, what I'd expect to happen in the event of price controls is for all of the pharma companies to suddenly develop new variations on their old drugs that just happen to exempt them from the price controls.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Friday January 04 2019, @08:57AM
Do what our government does, a modified reverse auction where the government tells the drug cartels what they're allowed to sell their stuff for for a range of widely-used meds. That's what government is for, to step in where required to ensure the population has a chance against predatory corporations.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 04 2019, @11:42AM
Plenty of ideas worth discussing there, yes. Some that need dealt with regardless of public or private.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.