I agree the PBMS are loathsome. But… let’s say you eliminated them. How much do you think insulin prices would actually come down? My guess is, at most, 20%. Setting price limits of course would bring the price down, that’s the kind of change that will require quite a sea change in how the US deals with prescription drugs. Insulin isn’t the only drug in this category (life-saving or sustaining) for instance – heart medications, cancer drugs, etc. etc. are all similar, and there’s no way I can imagine the pharmas giving up their $100,000+ per shot price tags for cancer medications, for instance.
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I agree that a paradigm shift is needed if we want to curb the rising greed (cost) of prescriptions in this country. Collective bargaining on the State or Federal level would be an easy start. Let the State or Feds negotiate as a super-user to drive the price down. Large purchases get large discounts. Small purchases get tiny discounts. Also eliminate the NDA aspects of the negotiations. If they made a deal with Montana state for x $, then it should be public knowledge. This gives other states the leverage they need to continue hammering on the exorbitant pricing.
I agree that negotiation is the way to go. Many prices in the private market are set off of Medicare prices on the physician services side of things. All they would to do is let Medicare negotiate. Everything else should take care of itself in short order. This doesn’t need to be a complicated solution.
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This is a repeat of what happened with the EpiPen a couple years ago. Criticism due to the high price, hearings of some sort that I’m not sure amounted to anything, then Mylan released its own “half price generic” EpiPen, which was also identical to the actual brand-name EpiPen. It is all a bit mind-boggling to me as an outsider.
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It’s redonkulous that Medication companies feel that we the patients are like sheep and have no cognizant understanding of how badly we are being gouged and will continue to pay no matter what. mind boggling
yes…it’s basically satire in real life.
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everytime I ponder US medical and associated costs as an American, this play comes to mind… Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Not sure why, but in my single brain cell it seems oddly appropriate