5 ms·

It's an end run around re-imbursement rates for insurance and how the pharmacy benefit managers get paid. Basically an artifact of why capitalism sucks.

lotsofpulp 3y ago
This has nothing to do with capitalism. This is price discrimination/segmentation. You want to sell the same product at different prices to different people. And because it is medicine, you do not want (too many) poor people to miss out on getting it, or at least you want plausible deniability for trying to make the product available to poorer people. Enter manufacturer coupons, PBMs, and myriad government and health insurance reimbursement policies. The whole system is an emergent phenomenon of trying to deliver different quality/quantity of healthcare to different populations, but for political purposes, maintaining plausible deniability that society (via its elected leaders) is okay with some people getting less healthcare than others (or paying more or less than others).
- umeshunni 3y ago
  capitalism sucks is just 19 year old redditor cliche for anything they don't understand. You can just ignore people who say that.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    Do you deny that capitalism as a system incentivizes groups to make convoluted systems and interactions that increase prices?
    - zer8k 3y ago
      You are conflating crony capitalism with free market capitalism. If we are going to argue in terms of pure theory (which you are) then more competition, and therefore the free market, would select for systems that reduce friction between the customer and their wallet. Crony capitalism is what happens when a mixture of regulatory capture, unhinged corporate lobbying, and greed combine to form a trifecta of fuck for everyone else. A common trope among anti-capitalists is they conflate capitalism in practice (i.e. crony capitalism) with actual free market capitalism (the theoretical construct). When debating semantics like you are the difference between these two is fundamentally important.
      - dragonwriter 3y ago
        > You are conflating crony capitalism with free market capitalism. Phrased a different way: discussing capitalism as it actually always has been, and as the term was coined to refer to, in the real world instead of nonsense fantasy that isn't implementable in reality, and which was only constructed as a distraction from that reality to deflect criticism of the real-world system.
        zer8k 3y ago
        > discussing capitalism as it actually always has been, So you replied to my post calling out your theorycrafting saying my theorycrafting is wrong. Alrighty.
        dragonwriter 3y ago
        > So you replied to my post calling out your theorycrafting [...] Nope, this is wrong already, befoee getting to the rest.
- pnutjam 3y ago
  This is an artifact of capitalism driven healthcare. It's only an issue in the U.S. It's the end results of incentive's designed to extract money vs incentives designed to provide healthcare. (i.e. capitalism)
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > This has nothing to do with capitalism. > This is price discrimination/segmentation. Firms maximizing profits has... something to do with capitalism
- tantalor 3y ago
  > This is price discrimination So, the discount is conditional? How does Amazon know if the user is eligible? I read the article twice, and nowhere does it say these "coupons" and "pledges" are for some subset of customers.
umeshunni 3y ago
so, how would communism have solved this problem, comrade?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- pnutjam 3y ago
  Get a load of Mr. "everything I hate is communism" over here.
- zer8k 3y ago
  Simple, Tovarisch. No medications are available. Many of the comrades are counting and re-counting wheat berries in the already scarce tillable fields. We have no private property so smart chemists will not produce more than the minimum medications as ordered by the Chairman. The capitalist doctors were sent to the gulag for working outside of the three clinics we have. No medication, no problem. You see, tovarisch!

lotsofpulp 3y ago

This has nothing to do with capitalism. This is price discrimination/segmentation. You want to sell the same product at different prices to different people. And because it is medicine, you do not want (too many) poor people to miss out on getting it, or at least you want plausible deniability for trying to make the product available to poorer people. Enter manufacturer coupons, PBMs, and myriad government and health insurance reimbursement policies. The whole system is an emergent phenomenon of trying to deliver different quality/quantity of healthcare to different populations, but for political purposes, maintaining plausible deniability that society (via its elected leaders) is okay with some people getting less healthcare than others (or paying more or less than others).

umeshunni 3y ago
capitalism sucks is just 19 year old redditor cliche for anything they don't understand. You can just ignore people who say that.
- mrguyorama 3y ago
  Do you deny that capitalism as a system incentivizes groups to make convoluted systems and interactions that increase prices?
  - zer8k 3y ago
    You are conflating crony capitalism with free market capitalism. If we are going to argue in terms of pure theory (which you are) then more competition, and therefore the free market, would select for systems that reduce friction between the customer and their wallet. Crony capitalism is what happens when a mixture of regulatory capture, unhinged corporate lobbying, and greed combine to form a trifecta of fuck for everyone else. A common trope among anti-capitalists is they conflate capitalism in practice (i.e. crony capitalism) with actual free market capitalism (the theoretical construct). When debating semantics like you are the difference between these two is fundamentally important.
    - dragonwriter 3y ago
      > You are conflating crony capitalism with free market capitalism. Phrased a different way: discussing capitalism as it actually always has been, and as the term was coined to refer to, in the real world instead of nonsense fantasy that isn't implementable in reality, and which was only constructed as a distraction from that reality to deflect criticism of the real-world system.
      - zer8k 3y ago
        > discussing capitalism as it actually always has been, So you replied to my post calling out your theorycrafting saying my theorycrafting is wrong. Alrighty.
        dragonwriter 3y ago
        > So you replied to my post calling out your theorycrafting [...] Nope, this is wrong already, befoee getting to the rest.
pnutjam 3y ago
This is an artifact of capitalism driven healthcare. It's only an issue in the U.S. It's the end results of incentive's designed to extract money vs incentives designed to provide healthcare. (i.e. capitalism)
dragonwriter 3y ago
> This has nothing to do with capitalism. > This is price discrimination/segmentation. Firms maximizing profits has... something to do with capitalism
tantalor 3y ago
> This is price discrimination So, the discount is conditional? How does Amazon know if the user is eligible? I read the article twice, and nowhere does it say these "coupons" and "pledges" are for some subset of customers.

umeshunni 3y ago

so, how would communism have solved this problem, comrade?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
pnutjam 3y ago
Get a load of Mr. "everything I hate is communism" over here.
zer8k 3y ago
Simple, Tovarisch. No medications are available. Many of the comrades are counting and re-counting wheat berries in the already scarce tillable fields. We have no private property so smart chemists will not produce more than the minimum medications as ordered by the Chairman. The capitalist doctors were sent to the gulag for working outside of the three clinics we have. No medication, no problem. You see, tovarisch!