Archive link. https://archive.is/N4Rqj
Some personal editorializing: This is a pretty remarkable first because of how captive we Americans are to pharma prices. Famously, when Medicare Part D was brought into existence by law it restricted the federal government from negotiating Part D drug prices. To me, shopping for drugs in Canada is tackling the symptom and ignores the cause. I wonder if this gets more traction with more states how it might affect drug prices in Canada, too.
The real solution to all this, of course, would be nationalize the healthcare industry in all aspects and to create a single payer healthcare system.
I really hate that insurance picks and chooses drugs to cover, it should merely be a dollar amount they cover with some deductible. My wife needed to change birth control for some reason, and the doctor picked one that wasn’t covered (would’ve been hundreds) and they called the doctor to switch it to a much cheaper one (became free). That’s just ridiculous.
However, just because the “cheap stuff” doesn’t work as well for your friend doesn’t mean it should be banned, it should just not be recommended. If you choose to save some cash or your body is just fine with a cheaper alternative, you should be free to use it.
That’s a hard no from me. We should either go all the way one way or the other, this halfway nonsense is where corruption thrives.
Shorter patent durations should be enough to both provide profit and promote competition. Right now, pharmaceutical companies milk a profitable drug until the patent runs out, and patents last 20 years from the filing date. I’m thinking we cut patents to 7 years from filing or 5 years from entry in the market, whichever is longer, with an option to renew for 5 years more years based on need (e.g. medication for a niche condition will take longer to recoup costs) and only if the product actually exists.
I’m also fine with the US directly owning a pharmaceutical research lab. But it shouldn’t be funding a private pharma company, that’s just too sketchy.
Yeah, socialized medicine is going to look more like the VA situation and less like medical care in the service despite what politicians will claim.
The military gets some of the best care in the country (and for good reason), despite all the flak it gets for handling stuff like burn pits (that was for vets AFAIK). There’s absolutely no way that level of care is getting rolled out to 300+ million Americans, there just aren’t enough care providers to go around if they tried, and there certainly is not enough money.