Congress must address
high prescription costs
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
Most Americans will have prescription drug requirements, and as prices go up, the U.S. House of Representatives seems to be looking the other way. This discussion of drug pricing has been going on for years and one has to ask why.
Why can we cross the border and get the same drug from the same manufacturer for less money than in the United States? Can it be that members of Congress have full health benefits and that money from lobbyists keeps them talking but not acting on this? Meanwhile, we just keep on paying high drug prices and Congress keeps on talking.
Bob Philbrook.
Farmville.
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This seems pretty clear.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/01/prescription-drugs-bill-trump-074077
And doesn't the US do most of the R&D that adds cost to the drugs here in the states?
Get government out of prescription drugs and let the pharmaceutical industry experience market forces / competition. Like health care, it's no different than any other commodity / good or service offered to consumers in this country... and subject to the same principles.
Competition / supply and demand will regulate the market better than any federal bureaucrat... and costs will come down.
Here's a little essay question, Tom: When insulin was discovered, the two scientists who accomplished this refused to patent their discovery. Now Big Pharma is selling it here for hundreds of dollars a month, even though it's very cheap to produce. In a few words, explain this fascinating economic phenomenon in terms of either "government" or "market forces / competition."
Who do you think made "Big Pharma" possible? Government intervention has empowered the very industry that they now demonize... eliminate bureaucratic red tape and allow competitors to produce insulin and sell it at a lower cost. It ain't rocket science… whether it be healthcare / college tuition or prescription drugs - government regulation / interference invariably skews markets to special interest groups and gouges consumers.
Eaton,
More babbling and nonsense.....Your argument is childish bumper sticker talking points....Nothing more
Tom, I agree with much of your first point and not much of your second. The "government's" role has been to skew the patent system -- with helpful hints from pharma lobbyists -- so that with nothing but a tweak an essentially identical drug can piggyback on the original patent.
Ruh roh - Rambo's triggered... again.
:)
Kenneth, a tale of two countries. My niece in upstate NY has excellent health insurance. Out of pocket cost of insulin and pump supplies is $210 a month. She considers herself lucky, considering what others have to dish out. My sister in law pays ten Euros, about $11. Every three months, that is. Free markets at work in America. Universal care in Germany. Add insult to injury, even without universal care, three months of insulin on the market (without ANY Insurance) is 75 Euros, about $83.
Yay for the free market system.
Eaton has zero clue what he's babbling about and just repeats the nonsense he reads off bumper stickers
I think there is federal legislation pending right now that would at least partly deal with this problem. I just can't imagine why it hasn't been passed and signed into law.
Even though Democrats are partly to blame for our exorbitant pharm prices, this will not be fixed until we have a Democrat in the White House and control Congress. Obama tried to fix it in during his first term but Republicans under the leadership of McConnell had vowed to do everything in their power to stymy him and it went nowhere. Let’s try it again after 2020.
Sorry, but the Republicans in Congress don't legislate any more... They just bi*ch and moan... And obstruct... And lie their a**es off... Nothing will get done until we have enough Democrats in Congress and a Democrat in the White House... Until then it will be NADA, ZIP... ~~~ Bob
Make it all free.........yeah, that will work.
🙄
Repeat the GOP's inane nonsense...Yep...That's a solution...
Jeff, free medications, and medications that cost the actual production rate plus costs of development and production are two different issues.
Bob Philbrook,
Congress will not give you any relief...The house has voted to reform prescription pricing and the GOP opposed it. The vote was 234-183. Five Republicans voted to approve the package. The bill like 400 other bills is sitting on Mitch McConnells desk and will not be taken up....You want relief.....Vote for Democrats....
Hal, if Republicans had a clue, they would have co-opted this issue a long time ago.
I agree. I do expect the Dems to make another run at fixing this after 2020 and the GOP will block them...
Welcome to the discussion.
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