3 ms·
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31649237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31649237 I think my comment there still applies. There'
by jimrandomh 4y ago
Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31649237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31649237
I think my comment there still applies. There's a simple way to buy insulin for 10x cheaper: Drive over the border. Any border will do. The extremely high prices are unique to the United States. Other countries have the same insulin brands, from the same companies, at literally 10x lower prices.
That should make the solution clear: Undo the laws that prevent retailers from driving over the border themselves. If US drug stores could import insulin from Europe, Canada, and Mexico, then it would be impossible to maintain such a large price difference, and the US price would come down.
- sterlind 4y agoAre these other countries producing their own insulin? Or importing it from the US? I can imagine pharma companies retaliating against, say, Canada, by refusing to sell Canada insulin (or only at US-equivalent prices), unless Canada bars export of insulin to the US. Maybe the pharma companies would blink and not murder a bunch of diabetics? I'm not so sure about that; I have a hard time believing that the execs have souls. Still, I agree we should allow drug import. The FDA is totally captured, though, so they'd try to block it. And there's no will in Congress to do anything - see the EpiPen pricing scandal.
- fragmede 4y agoSmall problem; that doesn't reinvest money into California's economy.