3 ms·

> Demand is maybe 100 units per year. What would you charge? Perhaps capitalism is not the best strategy to apply to healthcare. Folks in need of healthcare w

> Demand is maybe 100 units per year. What would you charge? Perhaps capitalism is not the best strategy to apply to healthcare. Folks in need of healthcare will always be a minority - a niche market - after all. The most prolific diseases typically only have 3-6M cases at any given time in the US. Should a person go destitute to pay for their care, just so some company's supply/demand curve is properly fitted?

mchusma 5y ago
Just to be clear, the American health care system is in no way "capitalist". It just has some of the trappings of capitalism. (There are so many examples of this, including for this case that Medicare/Medicaid are government programs where they pay whatever the drug companies ask.)
- falcolas 5y ago
  The pharmaceutical market - specifically this company who is charging $10,000 for a medication in one market and under $200 in another - is certainly following capitalist methodologies: "Charge what the market can bear."
refurb 5y ago
So you’re saying someone who is producing a niche product a minimal units should be forced to charge a low price? Regardless what their cost of goods is?
- Spivak 5y ago
  That's almost never what people arguing for government intervention in healthcare pricing actually want. They want an affordable price at the point of sale to the patient while the government uses tax dollars to and fees collected at the pharmacy to smooth out prices and have standing buy orders so that medications are always available to people that need them. i.e. don't let the supply chains fall over and provide "insurance" for everyone. This really isn't that crazy in the grand scheme of things. The US right now today does basically this with dairy products.
- falcolas 5y ago
  I said nothing about the cost of goods. My comment has much more to do with setting prices via the supply/demand methodology, which includes "not everyone who can - or needs to - buy it will be able to buy it" margins. This has little to do with the cost to produce something, other than to set the lowest bounds of the sale price (which by itself is a simplification given the concepts of loss leaders and non-monetary gains). I'd honestly much prefer if they were charging according to their costs and not market forces. I'll come out and say it: Pricing people out of your medicine so you can increase your profit margin is capital-E Evil.

mchusma 5y ago

Just to be clear, the American health care system is in no way "capitalist". It just has some of the trappings of capitalism. (There are so many examples of this, including for this case that Medicare/Medicaid are government programs where they pay whatever the drug companies ask.)

falcolas 5y ago
The pharmaceutical market - specifically this company who is charging $10,000 for a medication in one market and under $200 in another - is certainly following capitalist methodologies: "Charge what the market can bear."

refurb 5y ago

So you’re saying someone who is producing a niche product a minimal units should be forced to charge a low price? Regardless what their cost of goods is?

Spivak 5y ago
That's almost never what people arguing for government intervention in healthcare pricing actually want. They want an affordable price at the point of sale to the patient while the government uses tax dollars to and fees collected at the pharmacy to smooth out prices and have standing buy orders so that medications are always available to people that need them. i.e. don't let the supply chains fall over and provide "insurance" for everyone. This really isn't that crazy in the grand scheme of things. The US right now today does basically this with dairy products.
falcolas 5y ago
I said nothing about the cost of goods. My comment has much more to do with setting prices via the supply/demand methodology, which includes "not everyone who can - or needs to - buy it will be able to buy it" margins. This has little to do with the cost to produce something, other than to set the lowest bounds of the sale price (which by itself is a simplification given the concepts of loss leaders and non-monetary gains). I'd honestly much prefer if they were charging according to their costs and not market forces. I'll come out and say it: Pricing people out of your medicine so you can increase your profit margin is capital-E Evil.