4 ms·
One of the nastiest things in the failed TPP from my perspective were provisions to make illegal a government agency in my country that successfully keeps costs
by indemnity 9y ago
One of the nastiest things in the failed TPP from my perspective were provisions to make illegal a government agency in my country that successfully keeps costs of medication down by forcing competition and negotiating strongly.
The numbers are small by world standards but I guess the drug companies are paranoid of this idea catching on in, say the US.
I’m sure it will be regarded as communism, but hey, it makes the market actually work for us here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmac
- dv_dt 9y agoI think it would have been incredibly foolish and costly for your government to sign onto that provision. It's funny that the arguments seem about single or multi or hybrid public private billing arrangements here - but if you look across the national stats, all of those arrangements perform better - because a root cause that I think there are in those nations, a regulation of cost by medical experts in that nation vs efficacy of various drugs and/or procedures. The dream that somehow laymen off the street can shop for medical care like shopping for a pair of socks and that would balance the market in price or knowledge of derived value is really naive in my eyes.