4 ms·

Yes, this is true. There are other things that would change too. We could have these (or other) pills for pennies. However, we can't have a 24 hour drive throug

Yes, this is true. There are other things that would change too. We could have these (or other) pills for pennies. However, we can't have a 24 hour drive through pharmacy on every other corner and an Urgent Care on the other AND pills for pennies. Yes, the companies are making tons but a lot of that money pays for people to make it convenient for you to get your pills. And as someone else commented, we are basically subsidizing the pharmaceuticals for the rest of the world. (But before you get too upset about that remember we also get slave labor in China to build our iPhones and TVs that now cost comparatively nothing compared to if they were made here.)

Retric 9y ago
McDonald's can have 24/7 drive though windows while selling burgers and fries, but most pharmacy's are not open close to 24/7.
- swarnie_ 9y ago
  Pharmacists cost a lot more to employ then a couple of 17 year olds
  - Retric 9y ago
    The gap is less extreme than you might think. You can get a pharmacist for less than 4 teens making 15$ an hour. But again mostly you need to get your drugs in the day.
- SaintGhurka 9y ago
  Burgers and fries don't require clinical trials.
  - xellisx 9y ago
    We've had clinical trials for burger and fries. Results: America is now a lot heavier.
  - Retric 9y ago
    Neither do drug distributors aka pharmacy's. Remember, this is a retail operation they could be selling guns and the only change is the type of regulations and who their suppliers are.
DennisP 9y ago
Since drugstores mostly aren't owned by the pharmaceutical companies, I'm not sure you're correct about that part. At minimum, the wholesale price could be pennies, and the retail store could mark up by whatever amount they need.
ZeroGravitas 9y ago
Even if it was true that the extra money paid for pharmacuticals in the US was funding 24hr drive-through pharmacies, that would still be an idiotic system that needs burned to the ground. People who need drive through pharmacies should pay for them. People who want to order things online shouldn't be subsidizing them. Hiding the cost in a pill helps no-one and is obviously sub-optimal. Similarly, if you really wanted to subsidize pharmaceuticals for the rest of the world (and I'm not convinced you actually do) then again, hiding the cost in the pills, is a silly way to do it. If on the other hand, you wanted to charge as much as you could get away with, and could pay off politicians in order to be allowed to take advantage of sick customers to line your own pockets then putting that in the cost would make perfect sense.
- snarf21 9y ago
  I was exaggerating slightly. I was mainly trying to make the point that pills for pennies comes with other consequences. There are indeed better ways to do it but those have ripple effects that people ignore. If you change the rules, the companies will adjust and our access and jobs will change too. You can't just say I want all the good things of today and none of the bad and lower costs.
  - IWeldMelons 9y ago
    None of developed countries have healthcare in any way worse than US, but drugs are waaay cheaper.
rasz 9y ago
Yes, cheap medication and cheap accessible care is impossible. Its not like you can get $2 tetanus shot without any waiting in china in a walk in clinic or anything. oh, you can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU_9G1Ae_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU_9G1Ae_I

Retric 9y ago

McDonald's can have 24/7 drive though windows while selling burgers and fries, but most pharmacy's are not open close to 24/7.

swarnie_ 9y ago
Pharmacists cost a lot more to employ then a couple of 17 year olds
- Retric 9y ago
  The gap is less extreme than you might think. You can get a pharmacist for less than 4 teens making 15$ an hour. But again mostly you need to get your drugs in the day.
SaintGhurka 9y ago
Burgers and fries don't require clinical trials.
- xellisx 9y ago
  We've had clinical trials for burger and fries. Results: America is now a lot heavier.
- Retric 9y ago
  Neither do drug distributors aka pharmacy's. Remember, this is a retail operation they could be selling guns and the only change is the type of regulations and who their suppliers are.

DennisP 9y ago

Since drugstores mostly aren't owned by the pharmaceutical companies, I'm not sure you're correct about that part. At minimum, the wholesale price could be pennies, and the retail store could mark up by whatever amount they need.

ZeroGravitas 9y ago

Even if it was true that the extra money paid for pharmacuticals in the US was funding 24hr drive-through pharmacies, that would still be an idiotic system that needs burned to the ground. People who need drive through pharmacies should pay for them. People who want to order things online shouldn't be subsidizing them. Hiding the cost in a pill helps no-one and is obviously sub-optimal. Similarly, if you really wanted to subsidize pharmaceuticals for the rest of the world (and I'm not convinced you actually do) then again, hiding the cost in the pills, is a silly way to do it. If on the other hand, you wanted to charge as much as you could get away with, and could pay off politicians in order to be allowed to take advantage of sick customers to line your own pockets then putting that in the cost would make perfect sense.

snarf21 9y ago
I was exaggerating slightly. I was mainly trying to make the point that pills for pennies comes with other consequences. There are indeed better ways to do it but those have ripple effects that people ignore. If you change the rules, the companies will adjust and our access and jobs will change too. You can't just say I want all the good things of today and none of the bad and lower costs.
- IWeldMelons 9y ago
  None of developed countries have healthcare in any way worse than US, but drugs are waaay cheaper.

rasz 9y ago

Yes, cheap medication and cheap accessible care is impossible. Its not like you can get $2 tetanus shot without any waiting in china in a walk in clinic or anything. oh, you can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU_9G1Ae_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoU_9G1Ae_I