6 ms·
I’ve never really heard a claim like this. What regulations lead to higher prescription drug costs and higher healthcare costs generally?
by adamson 8y ago
I’ve never really heard a claim like this. What regulations lead to higher prescription drug costs and higher healthcare costs generally?
- creaghpatr 8y agoFDA approval process requires a ton of upfront R&D resources with zero guarantees. This is mostly a good thing but it's not black and white. Malpractice law is another example of regulations driving the price up, we can't get rid of malpractice law but the structure matters.
- eqdw 8y agoWait are you serious or is this incredibly subtle sarcasm?
- zjaffee 8y agoI don't agree with the poster above, but one common cited example is that emergency rooms are required to treat all patents regardless of their ability to pay. So they have to raise prices for everyone else in order to manage the risk that someone won't pay.
- wbl 8y agoWe can't import generics from Europe leading to shortages.
- kevindqc 8y agoI always thought the high prices in the US was because of not having universal healthcare - when you are buying for millions of people, you can have lower prices? It's not like the US is the only country that regulates drugs?
- skookumchuck 8y agoFor an extensive article on how regulation dramatically increases health care costs: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-american-health-care-killed-my-father/307617/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-ame...
- refurb 8y agoUnited Healthcare, a US insurer, covers 40M people. That's bigger than the entire population of Canada, but Canada has cheaper drugs.
- kevindqc 8y agoGood point, thanks
- skookumchuck 8y agoFor higher drug costs, see "Regulation and Pharmaceutical Innovation" by Peltzman, which shows through statistics that the 1962 FDA regulations have resulted in a large increase in drug costs with no net increase in safety. (While more bad drugs have been blocked, this is counterbalanced by good drugs taking much longer to be approved. Unknown is what drugs were never developed because of the much increased cost of the regulations.)
- crowdpleaser 8y agoHere's an article if you're interested: https://mises.org/wire/how-government-regulations-made-healthcare-so-expensive https://mises.org/wire/how-government-regulations-made-healt...