Why is medicine so expensive in the US?

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Feldenak
Canadian drugs only "look" cheap. Those lower prices you see at the pharmacy are offset by higher taxes.

No.

Canada: Government: "We want to buy [some huge ass amount] of Drug, here's the Price we will Pay
Corp: "ok"

USA: Corp: "Here's a Drug, here's a Price[some huge ass amount]"
Consumer: "ok"

 

[oslama]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: NoShangriLa

Originally posted by: bctbct
Heres one example

NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world.

Thailand pissed off the US biotheck company that have the Tamiflu patent by sharing its own Tamilflu secret with Indonesia and maybe other countries for free or at a very low cost. I can't recall which paper that wrote an artical that said the US biotech wanted to sue + embargo against Thailand for sharing its Tamiflu vaccines, and Thailand retracted its patent sharing of Tamiful with the EU fearing back lash from the US.

Thailand, Indonesia to share Tamiflu vaccines

Democracy at its best...sue, embargo, and war if others don't pay by the US Corporatism.

isn't that called capitalism?

There is a difference between Captialism and Corporatism.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: oslama


There is a difference between Captialism and Corporatism.

Yep... and the difference is: Liberal whinyism. Perpetrated by whiny socialists who can't understand that "fair" trade is anything but free.

 

[Slew Foot]

Originally posted by: bearxor
A lot of you are saying its because big buisness and big government want to get their share. I disagree. I think insurance companies are to blame.

People's reliance on their insurance companies to pay for prescriptions has hidden the real cost of prescriptions for years. If people had to pay out of pocket for drugs what they really cost, they wouldn't buy them because they don't have enough money. This would hurt at first because people couldn't afford prescriptions, but when the drug companies looked at their sales and realized people aren't going to pay outrageous prices for drugs they would streamline their operations and charge less for them, enabling normal people to buy prescription drugs out of pocket.

Yup, too bad more people dont realize this.

 

[JS80]

it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

 

[iversonyin]

You are paying for big pharma's R&D expense. It's ok, over the counter drug is always available. Nothing like a bottle of Robertoussin

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

LOL, you think new drugs come from altruism and charity?

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

LOL, you think new drugs come from altruism and charity?

Science. Some from Charity, some from Public(Government) Funding, some from Corp spending. Capitalism has only a peripheral influence on it.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: Mo0o
no government subsidies, drug advertising costs money, supply/demand

fixed

The US is one of the only nations that allows big pharma to advertise to "customers." The cost of advertising is millions more per year than research. The corp friendly administration does not want to loose campaign contributions if the dont allow big pharma to charge whatever they want.

 

[Toastedlightly]

What is the patent life on a drug? Wasn't it 15 years? How many of those years are spent trying to drill the drug though the FDA? I think they want to profit before the generics can step in.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

LOL, you think new drugs come from altruism and charity?

Science. Some from Charity, some from Public(Government) Funding, some from Corp spending. Capitalism has only a peripheral influence on it.

:::sigh:::

Do you think many, if anyone would develop new drugs if there wasn't profit to be made?

Peripheral my ass. Capitalism is the main drive in the creation of new drugs.

 

[Looney]

Health Canada negotiates and buys the meds from the pharmaceutical companies as a single entity for 30 million people.

Also, there are far less medical lawsuits in Canada, and when they do occur, punitive damages are far far less than that in the US.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

LOL, you think new drugs come from altruism and charity?

Science. Some from Charity, some from Public(Government) Funding, some from Corp spending. Capitalism has only a peripheral influence on it.

:::sigh:::

Do you think many, if anyone would develop new drugs if there wasn't profit to be made?

Peripheral my ass. Capitalism is the main drive in the creation of new drugs.

Negative, Capitalism has little to do with it. Capitalism like Drugs like Viagra or other Mass Demand type of Drug, but when it comes to Cancer or other Life Saving Drug Other avenues take up the cause much more so than Capitalism. I'm sure Capitalism will show up when a Cure or New Treatment is on the way, but the Basic R&D and Theoretical R&D will be dominated by non-Capitalist forms.

 

[WinXP]

The drug companies do not want you to get them at a cheaper price.

http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/pharm-policy/2001-July/001270.html

http://www.suddenlysenior.com/canadiandrugstores.html

 

[chambersc]

there are stricter regulations imposed in the United States. In fact, when buying medications from Canada, there is no guarantee that you're even getting what you've paid for.

 

[IGBT]

..to pay for and subsidise all the free med's given to illegals that walk into EM clinics and demand free medical and med's service. No free lunch. Somebody has to pay. Illegal anchor babies also require lots of pre/post med's/medical. All free of course.

 

[Vic]

The OP needs better insurance. My prescription coverage is a max $10 co-pay.

And anyone who thinks the US' current health care system is representative of capitalism is an economic idiot, end of story. Take some actual economics and political theory classes, then get back to us. Our current health care system is a type of quasi-socialist corporatism, i.e. a type of fascism. Under the guise of protecting the consumers, government protects and inflates costs for benefit of the corporate production side of the equation. There is no free market anywhere in the US health care system in order to represent a capitalism.

 

[drinkmorejava]

#1) We have a non socialized healthcare system, where despite higher drugs prices, we actually have an industry too. Just look at Europe from 1970 to now, comparably they have almost nothing because they've been driven away due to lack of profit. Pharmaceuticals are not around to solve all of the world?s problems and make anyone happy, granted the vast majority of the people working act them really do want to do something like that, they are legitimate profit making ventures and no other group has shown they can do better.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: IGBT
..to pay for and subsidise all the free med's given to illegals that walk into EM clinics and demand free medical and med's service. No free lunch. Somebody has to pay. Illegal anchor babies also require lots of pre/post med's/medical. All free of course.

That's an ignorant and bigoted statement. Meds themselves, are very very cheap to produce. It's why they can give thousand dollar AIDs meds for nearly free to Africa. It's the R&D, lawsuits, advertisements, etc that's the real cost.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

LOL, you think new drugs come from altruism and charity?

Science. Some from Charity, some from Public(Government) Funding, some from Corp spending. Capitalism has only a peripheral influence on it.

:::sigh:::

Do you think many, if anyone would develop new drugs if there wasn't profit to be made?

Peripheral my ass. Capitalism is the main drive in the creation of new drugs.

Negative, Capitalism has little to do with it. Capitalism like Drugs like Viagra or other Mass Demand type of Drug, but when it comes to Cancer or other Life Saving Drug Other avenues take up the cause much more so than Capitalism. I'm sure Capitalism will show up when a Cure or New Treatment is on the way, but the Basic R&D and Theoretical R&D will be dominated by non-Capitalist forms.

Yeah, 'cause there's no money to be made from curing cancer... :roll:

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: IGBT
..to pay for and subsidise all the free med's given to illegals that walk into EM clinics and demand free medical and med's service. No free lunch. Somebody has to pay. Illegal anchor babies also require lots of pre/post med's/medical. All free of course.

That's an ignorant and bigoted statement. Meds themselves, are very very cheap to produce. It's why they can give thousand dollar AIDs meds for nearly free to Africa. It's the R&D, lawsuits, advertisements, etc that's the real cost.

That's like saying that music CDs cost pennies to make.

The product is the R&D. Not the pill itself.

Just like with music CDs. The product is the content, not the disc.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
Just look at Europe from 1970 to now, comparably they have almost nothing because they've been driven away due to lack of profit.

What do you mean? That pharmaceutical companies in Europe don't exist or do R&D? That's BS if that's what you're saying. I'll be starting a Phase III (not FDA approved yet) schizophrenic study (which is why i'm being flown to vegas next week) from Solvoy (based in the Netherlands).

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: IGBT
..to pay for and subsidise all the free med's given to illegals that walk into EM clinics and demand free medical and med's service. No free lunch. Somebody has to pay. Illegal anchor babies also require lots of pre/post med's/medical. All free of course.

That's an ignorant and bigoted statement. Meds themselves, are very very cheap to produce. It's why they can give thousand dollar AIDs meds for nearly free to Africa. It's the R&D, lawsuits, advertisements, etc that's the real cost.

That's like saying that CDs cost pennies to make.

The product is the R&D. Not the pill itself.

No idea WTF you're saying there.

But IGBT claimed that the reason why meds are high is because of the free meds that are given to the illegals to cover the costs of those free meds. It's not. Costs are high because of other reasons i mentioned.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: JS80
it's so funny, so many of you are blaming capitalism for high drug prices, but don't understand that it's capitalism that brought you the drug in the first place.

Not really.

LOL, you think new drugs come from altruism and charity?

Science. Some from Charity, some from Public(Government) Funding, some from Corp spending. Capitalism has only a peripheral influence on it.

:::sigh:::

Do you think many, if anyone would develop new drugs if there wasn't profit to be made?

Peripheral my ass. Capitalism is the main drive in the creation of new drugs.

Negative, Capitalism has little to do with it. Capitalism like Drugs like Viagra or other Mass Demand type of Drug, but when it comes to Cancer or other Life Saving Drug Other avenues take up the cause much more so than Capitalism. I'm sure Capitalism will show up when a Cure or New Treatment is on the way, but the Basic R&D and Theoretical R&D will be dominated by non-Capitalist forms.

Yeah, 'cause there's no money to be made from curing cancer... :roll:

There undoubtedly is Profit to be made, but that doesn't mean that "Capitalism" is the driving force behind Research.