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Americans are skipping medically necessary prescriptions because of the cost
- planetzero 7y agoPrice fixing by the government will only make things worse. The US creates the majority of new drugs in the world and countries that have universal healthcare wait for it to be tested and released, create a generic for a fraction of the cost (without spending the millions and sometimes billions), and they get to enjoy the benefits. Without our free market system, more people will die over time because we will have less innovative and new drugs on the market. We need to make it easier for drug companies to get new drugs to market without cutting corners and allow the free market to push the costs down.
- JohnFen 7y ago> and allow the free market to push the costs down. I am the opposite of confident that this happens in the US with drug prices. I don't think there is a free market for drugs in the US. I think it's largely gamed.
- downerending 7y agoHmm. One test of this would be whether the drug industry is wildly more profitable than other industries. Is it? (Too lazy to look, but I don't think so.)
- planetzero 7y agoThere isn't a free market because FDA approval takes at least a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars. The result is only a few companies can actually get a drug to market and without competition, can set the costs.
- JohnFen 7y agoThat 44% figure sounds roughly correct. I'd say that about half of the people I personally know (including myself) have skipped filling important prescriptions because of the cost at some point in their lives. Some of those prescriptions are eye-wateringly expensive. I've paid four figures to fill single prescriptions.