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This is what life looks like under a duopsony -- where there are essentially only two buyers for pharmacy labor. Individual pharmacists have enormous sunk costs
by ProjectArcturis 3y ago
This is what life looks like under a duopsony -- where there are essentially only two buyers for pharmacy labor. Individual pharmacists have enormous sunk costs in terms of 4 years of specialized schooling. There is nowhere for them to go, outside of a smattering of independent pharmacies who are themselves getting crushed because of a lack of bargaining power with PBMs. The outcome of an unregulated free market is misery for employees, bad experiences for customers, and billions in profit for corporations.
- 0xDEAFBEAD 3y agoYou believe pharma is an "unregulated free market"? It might be useful to compare pharma with the restaurant industry. Which industry is more regulated? Which industry has more competition?
- tssva 3y ago"This is what life looks like under a duopsony -- where there are essentially only two buyers for pharmacy labor." In my area the number of grocery store locations with a pharmacy greatly out numbers the CVS and Walgreens locations. Walmart, Costco and hospitals also employ pharmacists. Walgreens and CVS employ a significant number of pharmacists but I would have to see some proof that they are a duopsony. It doesn't pass my initial sniff test.
- supertrope 3y agoThere's plenty of in pharmacies besides those two. Most grocery chains have pharmacies. This is just retail being retail for the workers. Without a differentiated service or product, it's a race to the bottom. The bottom is when a pharmacy chain stops accepting a brand of insurance because they feel the bid was too low. https://www.federaltimes.com/fedlife/health/2022/11/14/thousands-of-pharmacies-can-rejoin-tricare-network-after-kroger-exits/ https://www.federaltimes.com/fedlife/health/2022/11/14/thous...