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> we get those weird prices because of heavy and incompetent government interference in the drug markets. So we should probably look into scaling back that int
by MagnumOpus 7y ago
> we get those weird prices because of heavy and incompetent government interference in the drug markets. So we should probably look into scaling back that interference
No, we get it because of the wrong kind of interference (due to regulatory capture and government corruption). I think in Singapore the government interferes heavily too - at the very least posing as a bundling buyer for hospitals to put drug purchases out for tender. Every developed country does this.
- eru 7y agoHence my addition of the important qualifier of 'incompetent'. In any case, the medical system itself provides a lot of examples of regulation driving prices in most cases. Less regulated subsectors like Lasik eye surgery, or elective dental work, or cosmetic surgery, generally improved in quality and dropped in price in the last few decades. (Another thing to investigate for me would be vet care. The technologies involved are similar enough; but the legal environments are radically different in most jurisdictions. If memory serves right, the evidence was mixed.)