Nothing about vertical integration of those two industries would solve that problem. Paying out millions to billions to own drugs isn't going to make their unit

Nothing about vertical integration of those two industries would solve that problem. Paying out millions to billions to own drugs isn't going to make their unit economics any better. The $10,000 drug isn't going to magically only cost $100 just because it got bought by an insurance company. In fact it'll probably cost more, because the transaction costs involved in buying the drug will have to get added onto the R&D cost of developing the drug, which is the reason it costs $10,000 in the first place. It's also wrong to assume that just because a company gets acquired, that there's going to be 'unnecessary levels of administration and other associated costs' that are just begging for the ax. Pharma companies have finance people too that can provide that kind of oversight and recommendations. The market for drugs is complicated by two factors. First is that people who need drugs generally can't get that need met by any other product / service. So there's an incentive for price creep. Second is the patent system which forces companies to grab as much cash as they can until the patent expires. If longer patents were granted, or the patent system were more sane in that the patent period doesn't begin until after the drug is able to be made available to the market, then the costs of developing drugs would be a lot more legible, and therefore amortizable.