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Relevant is the soon-to-be-debated-in-public trade agreements regarding "intellectual property" (a regressive and fiercely harmful concept spawned by greed, but

Relevant is the soon-to-be-debated-in-public trade agreements regarding "intellectual property" (a regressive and fiercely harmful concept spawned by greed, but that's a rant for another day) as it relates to the pharmas. The pharma companies lobbied very, very heavily for certain clauses in that trade agreement. The TTP is going to send their profits through the roof, likely by forcing formerly exempt countries on board with their pricing scheme. The money that the pharmas have allows them to corrupt the political process, enabling them to abuse patients/insurers with insane prices... this isn't new. The incentives are completely fucked at every level of organization: drug development, clinical trials, patient care. As far as the claim that patients are largely shielded from price increases, I think that claim was made in bad faith, and is laughably disconnected from reality. Medical-debt induced bankruptcy is very alive and well in the US, and is not in other places.

curiouscats 11y ago
Very true. The medical-debt induced bankruptcy is the most visible sign but don't ignore the absolutely huge sums diverted from paying employees to paying for health care The USA pays more than twice what the rest of the rich world does for health care for no better outcomes. This isn't only due to drug pricing but drug pricing obviously cost USA consumers tens of billions a year in increased health care costs just because it means they pay much more in insurance costs (or even less noticeable have part of their paycheck diverted to pay inflated drug prices impact on health care costs) doesn't mean they avoid the high costs of this corruption based pricing. It is very unlikely this system is going to be changed. It has been going on for decades at huge costs to the USA. Maybe (I just maybe) it will be slowed some if the public forces politicians to reduce the amount of the paybacks given by the Democrats and Republicans to drug companies at the expense of everyone else. Meaningful change is very unlikely. The parties are far too corrupt at this point to make any significant change in policy likely.

curiouscats 11y ago

Very true. The medical-debt induced bankruptcy is the most visible sign but don't ignore the absolutely huge sums diverted from paying employees to paying for health care The USA pays more than twice what the rest of the rich world does for health care for no better outcomes. This isn't only due to drug pricing but drug pricing obviously cost USA consumers tens of billions a year in increased health care costs just because it means they pay much more in insurance costs (or even less noticeable have part of their paycheck diverted to pay inflated drug prices impact on health care costs) doesn't mean they avoid the high costs of this corruption based pricing. It is very unlikely this system is going to be changed. It has been going on for decades at huge costs to the USA. Maybe (I just maybe) it will be slowed some if the public forces politicians to reduce the amount of the paybacks given by the Democrats and Republicans to drug companies at the expense of everyone else. Meaningful change is very unlikely. The parties are far too corrupt at this point to make any significant change in policy likely.