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Here in Canada you can buy an EpiPen pack for $160CAN $123US. But I'm not sure if it's the same brand. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/08/25/ca

Here in Canada you can buy an EpiPen pack for $160CAN $123US. But I'm not sure if it's the same brand. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/08/25/canada-shines-in-light-of-us-epipen-furor-editorial.html https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/08/25/canada... "A key reason is a federal agency called the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, which regulates drug costs to avoid precisely the sort of excesses evident in the United States."

tomohawk 10y ago
Price controls can work in a monopoly situation, but they don't work otherwise. Has this board managed to bring alternative products to the market? Has this board increased the stability of supply (for example, diversity of supply chain)? The flu vaccine debacle highlights all of these shortcomings of well intentioned people attempting to do good things but causing unintended side effects. For example, price controls were put in place, but all that did was reduce the 24 suppliers of vaccine down to a very small number, with very predictable results (less stable supply, greatly increased cost). Speaking of Canada and medicine, we had some new neighbors from there who moved to the US because they couldn't get adequate care north of the border.
- dghughes 10y ago
  >we had some new neighbors from there who moved to the US because they couldn't get adequate care north of the border. That sounds fishy. There may be long wait times here for some common procedures but waiting a few months versus paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, what's worse? My dad has COPD and another lung disease along with the usual cardiovascular health problems plus age related problems if he wasn't here he'd have to pay probably $100,000 for drugs each year. The way I explain it is having access to free healthcare all your life makes for consistent health. It's like brushing your teeth each day keeps them healthy instead of ignoring them then one day pulling out rotten teeth and thinking that solved the problem.

tomohawk 10y ago

Price controls can work in a monopoly situation, but they don't work otherwise. Has this board managed to bring alternative products to the market? Has this board increased the stability of supply (for example, diversity of supply chain)? The flu vaccine debacle highlights all of these shortcomings of well intentioned people attempting to do good things but causing unintended side effects. For example, price controls were put in place, but all that did was reduce the 24 suppliers of vaccine down to a very small number, with very predictable results (less stable supply, greatly increased cost). Speaking of Canada and medicine, we had some new neighbors from there who moved to the US because they couldn't get adequate care north of the border.

dghughes 10y ago
>we had some new neighbors from there who moved to the US because they couldn't get adequate care north of the border. That sounds fishy. There may be long wait times here for some common procedures but waiting a few months versus paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, what's worse? My dad has COPD and another lung disease along with the usual cardiovascular health problems plus age related problems if he wasn't here he'd have to pay probably $100,000 for drugs each year. The way I explain it is having access to free healthcare all your life makes for consistent health. It's like brushing your teeth each day keeps them healthy instead of ignoring them then one day pulling out rotten teeth and thinking that solved the problem.