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> Medicare bases its payments for physician-administered drugs on their average private market price. Medicare is driving up prices by… paying market rate? Th
by newbie789 5y ago
> Medicare bases its payments for physician-administered drugs on their average private market price.
Medicare is driving up prices by… paying market rate?
This reasoning seems to imply that Medicare somehow has the ability to time travel backwards and influence the choices of drug companies and private insurance to inflate prices which they then agree to pay. It literally implies that Medicare reacting to private market is exactly the same thing as controlling the private market. This strikes me as completely incomprehensible at best and a nakedly bad faith attack on Medicare at worst
- teruakohatu 5y agoI am not an American but I think you have it back to front. It seems because they know the biggest customer (medicare) will have to pay what smaller customers pay, they simply charge huge amounts to the smaller customers. From an economics perspective the demand curve is inelastic. Medicare will pay whatever the price is as long as there is one other buyer paying that price.
- asdfaoeu 5y agoOf course drug companies consider the buyers of their product when setting prices. I also don't think the article is suggesting abolishing Medicare just changing it's process to buying drugs.