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>> Mark Cuban's project of selling off-brand medication for cheap is great It's great and going to help a lot of people. But it's still not cheap compared to a
by basisword 4y ago
>> Mark Cuban's project of selling off-brand medication for cheap is great
It's great and going to help a lot of people. But it's still not cheap compared to a lot of other countries which either provide free medication or medication for a fixed fee per item (usually around $10-20, varies by country).
- arethuza 4y agoAs someone who lives in a country where medication is "free", I always like to clarify that "free" in these kinds of contexts means "free at the point of delivery" - we're all perfectly aware that they are paid using money from taxpayers.
- hobs 4y agoWho have an insanely better price anyway because of their negotiating power as a nation instead of an individual payee.
- vidarh 4y agoIt's not just negotiating power, but that they're actually allowed to negotiate. E.g. Medicare has a substantially higher demand for drugs than most single payer universal healthcare systems due to a combination of number of people covered plus covering mostly older, more expensive, patients. It's larger than the UK's NHS for example. But Medicare is subject to various legal restrictions on their ability to negotiate the best prices possible, while the NHS can use whatever leverage it pleases.
- arethuza 4y agoWhy would any government legislate to prevent a government run medical provider from negotiating with suppliers?
- vidarh 4y agoThe excuse is that they're concerned about it distorting the market. So instead they're distorting it by ensuring one of the bigger customers of pharma companies won't try to get the best prices possible...