4 ms·

It is nice to sue all of those companies for colluding. But can't you just import those drugs for less from India or other cheap drug producing country? I am no

It is nice to sue all of those companies for colluding. But can't you just import those drugs for less from India or other cheap drug producing country? I am not sure the problem lies in manufacturing. The system is rigged between the insurance companies and the medical system and the middle men!! Offering a cheaper cost, means more money for the middle men probably

Shivetya 6y ago
Well its not all about insurance companies but also where government drops the ball. Example, doctors will prescribe Eliquis because if you have insurance and not medicare its downright cheap but if you are on medicare your cost is four hundred plus. Even insulin prices get distorted because you are limited to which types you can buy in you are under medicare. maybe with their majority the Democrats can finally tell their union buddies to bugger off and pass a single payer or tax high value insurance policies; one major reason ACA was so limited as many of those policies which were going to be taxed were all on the side of public employee union benefits.
- metiscus 6y ago
  I've heard this mentioned a lot and I have always wanted to ask: How does tasking high value insurance policies address this issue? Does the government take the additional tax money and use it to subsidize the drug cost? What would prevent the drug company from raising the price to capture the subsidy?
parsimo2010 6y ago
It is not guaranteed that a regular American can get drugs from another country. In the past few years, you have been able to legally bring a few months of drugs back from Canada if you visited in person. But if you order drugs online, the drugs are at risk of being seized. Sometimes they get through fine, sometimes they are seized for things as silly as improper labeling (or the drug being straight up illegal to import). You can still save money on many drugs if you can accept the risk or you can order far enough in advance to be able to reorder if one of your packages gets seized. Ordering drugs from another country is a slightly better plan to save money than making friends with a veterinarian. But most people should just go to the local pharmacy and work with their insurance provider or state aid programs if they can't afford their prescriptions. Ironically, the Trump administration recently allowed states to import drugs from other countries to enable them to offer lower cost drugs through state run programs, but was still seizing the same products if they were ordered by individuals. While I can't really complain about an initiative to lower drug costs, the mental gymnastics needed to come up with this plan are pretty incredible. "We don't think price controls are compatible with a capitalist society, so we won't implement them. But we campaigned on lower drug prices (since that will increase our appeal among the elderly), so we have to do something. Let's import drugs from countries that do have price controls. But people can't order the drugs themselves, we have to protect them from themselves. We have to order the drugs and repackage them with new labels, because we need American instructions and American warning labels, not the instructions and warnings that the Canadian government is fine with." Right now, it's better/easier for most people to get their drugs from a local pharmacist with our current system. If Mark Cuban is willing to throw a lot of capital and break up the price collusion between established drug companies, then I suppose it's a step in the right direction. We should be happy to accept lower prices and get to work on fixing other important problems with our healthcare system.
sct202 6y ago
Those drugs need to be tested and certified by the FDA before they're legal in the US. For a lot of lower volume drugs, the cost and time to go do that ishigh enough (vs the potential gain) that companies don't bother.
metiscus 6y ago
I have imported Colchicine from overseas pharmacies with regularity and never had an issue with it being seized. The prices I get are significantly cheaper because of the patent issue on that 2000 year old drug. For uncontrolled legacy drugs affected by patent issues this is probably viable for the tech savvy (and for those who can afford to wait quite a while). It would be nice if it could be done on an industrial scale instead of as an individual.

Shivetya 6y ago

Well its not all about insurance companies but also where government drops the ball. Example, doctors will prescribe Eliquis because if you have insurance and not medicare its downright cheap but if you are on medicare your cost is four hundred plus. Even insulin prices get distorted because you are limited to which types you can buy in you are under medicare. maybe with their majority the Democrats can finally tell their union buddies to bugger off and pass a single payer or tax high value insurance policies; one major reason ACA was so limited as many of those policies which were going to be taxed were all on the side of public employee union benefits.

metiscus 6y ago
I've heard this mentioned a lot and I have always wanted to ask: How does tasking high value insurance policies address this issue? Does the government take the additional tax money and use it to subsidize the drug cost? What would prevent the drug company from raising the price to capture the subsidy?

parsimo2010 6y ago

It is not guaranteed that a regular American can get drugs from another country. In the past few years, you have been able to legally bring a few months of drugs back from Canada if you visited in person. But if you order drugs online, the drugs are at risk of being seized. Sometimes they get through fine, sometimes they are seized for things as silly as improper labeling (or the drug being straight up illegal to import). You can still save money on many drugs if you can accept the risk or you can order far enough in advance to be able to reorder if one of your packages gets seized. Ordering drugs from another country is a slightly better plan to save money than making friends with a veterinarian. But most people should just go to the local pharmacy and work with their insurance provider or state aid programs if they can't afford their prescriptions. Ironically, the Trump administration recently allowed states to import drugs from other countries to enable them to offer lower cost drugs through state run programs, but was still seizing the same products if they were ordered by individuals. While I can't really complain about an initiative to lower drug costs, the mental gymnastics needed to come up with this plan are pretty incredible. "We don't think price controls are compatible with a capitalist society, so we won't implement them. But we campaigned on lower drug prices (since that will increase our appeal among the elderly), so we have to do something. Let's import drugs from countries that do have price controls. But people can't order the drugs themselves, we have to protect them from themselves. We have to order the drugs and repackage them with new labels, because we need American instructions and American warning labels, not the instructions and warnings that the Canadian government is fine with." Right now, it's better/easier for most people to get their drugs from a local pharmacist with our current system. If Mark Cuban is willing to throw a lot of capital and break up the price collusion between established drug companies, then I suppose it's a step in the right direction. We should be happy to accept lower prices and get to work on fixing other important problems with our healthcare system.

sct202 6y ago

Those drugs need to be tested and certified by the FDA before they're legal in the US. For a lot of lower volume drugs, the cost and time to go do that ishigh enough (vs the potential gain) that companies don't bother.

metiscus 6y ago

I have imported Colchicine from overseas pharmacies with regularity and never had an issue with it being seized. The prices I get are significantly cheaper because of the patent issue on that 2000 year old drug. For uncontrolled legacy drugs affected by patent issues this is probably viable for the tech savvy (and for those who can afford to wait quite a while). It would be nice if it could be done on an industrial scale instead of as an individual.