Who should we blame for high drugs prices: President, Senate, Congress or voters?

How about neither? It’s the pharmaceutical industry who’s to blame. They’re the ones who decide the price of drugs.

 

Nonsense. Most pharmaceutical breakthroughs are made in the US or other Western countries that obtain US patents, so foreign competition isn't really an issue for the first 17 years of a drug's life. The only foreign competition that is kept out is drugs that don't meet US purity standards, which unfortunately is most of them.

"India is the second largest drug supplier of the United States after Canada. The Indian pharmaceutical drug plants that export to the US have failed to meet with FDA standards of quality, thus, the FDA is banning more drug plants day by day. Under the ban, the Indian companies either have to raise their quality or completely withdraw their drugs." http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/pharmaceutical-drug-plants-in-india-under-us-fda-ban/

 

The big money in pharma is being the exclusive source for effective remedies for a large group of afflicted people - no choice for relief but to fork over the dough.

Tobacco and alcohol are at least competitive industries whose users initially "elect" to use whatever product.

It has become even easier to "bribe" government these days in light of the US "citizens united" ruling. Same swamp, different denizens.

 

The FDA sets very high standards, and it makes it very expensive for companies to meet those standards. It ends up creating a barrier to outside entry.

Now, I'm not saying that's all a bad thing to create a protectionist barrier. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the last really profitable industries remaining in the U.S. Of course it is paid for by the consumer.

 

Neither. The blame falls directly on the producer of the product.

 

Generally speaking, I hold a dim view of most of the alphabet soup of federal agencies, but the FDA is one that actually earns its keep. The question is whether the high standards the FDA sets are intended to keep the public safe or to keep US drug companies in business. Since the US drug companies have to meet the same standards, I'd say the former is true, and the protectionist barrier is an accidental side effect, not an intentional restraint on trade.

I wish the FDA would ban all those snake oil vitamin and mineral supplements. It's shocking to me that that crap is sold in mainstream stores and not by shady street vendors.

 

Trust me, you don't want government regulating prices.

And even more regulation. Regulation is bad for the economy. We need some but we should have no more than necessary to keep people safe. People can decide for themselves if they want to buy vitamins. You aren't required to buy them but have the freedom to do so if you wish.

 

You are right – invisible hand increased price of the medicine called Acthar from $40 in 2001 to more than $40,000, invisible hand protects opioid pusher companies from too aggressive investigations, invisible hand increaseed price of EpiPen from $100 in 2009 to about $600 (it is totally coincidental that the father of CEO of EpiPen is Joseph Manchin, Senator from West Virginia and member of the Democratic Party).

We need less regulations to let the invisible hand to work.

 

Yes. The marketplace can resolve this sort of thing.

 

Agreed.

It's not the vitamins I object to, it's the lies being used to sell them. If they all came with warning labels saying something like, "The FDA has determined that this crap is worthless and doesn't do what it claims," I'd be okay with it. But no, they have things like "for joint health" and "for urinary health" printed on the boxes. Some of it has been proven to be bad for your health, like colloidal silver or too much vitamin C. "'Most people don't realize there's no real advantage to taking more than the recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals, and they don't recognize there may be disadvantages,' [Johanna Dwyer, RD, a senior research scientist with the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements] says." https://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/effects-of-taking-too-many-vitamins The ironic thing about all those supplements is that the people who take them are the most likely to be eating a well-balanced diet and who don't need them at all. People who eat only one or two kinds of food, day in and day out, are unlikely to be taking a vitamin and mineral supplement to compensate. During the hurricane aftermath last year, I started getting terrible leg cramps because we had no fresh fruit or vegetables. When I could finally get to the store, I bought a big bottle of Gatorade to compensate. (They had no fresh fruit or vegetables, either.) Once the power was restored and the stores got food back in, I didn't need the Gatorade any more.

 

Medicare and Medicaid should require competitive bidding on all drugs where there is competition and in cases where there is none set the prices.We need to do this not just in drugs but in every aspect of healthcare.Hospitals and doctors should be required by law to post prices for every aspect of healthcare.We the consumers have absolutely no clue as to the cost of any procedure,would you buy a house or a car if you had no clue as to it's cost?

 

First I would say the drug companies. Second, those elected officials which accepted millions of dollars from the drug companies. You know the drug companies aren't donating all that money out of civic duty. They do so as an investment and if their investment doesn't get the expected return, there won't be any more investment in that candidate or elected official.

 

We used to have laws revolving around the term "truth in advertising." That has gone by the wayside. We are back to hyperbole. How many times have you heard ads that say "call in the next 10 minutes and we'll send you a second one free. Just pay an additional fee." Even without the "additional fee" the second one wouldn't be free. It would be included.

You can pick your bad advertising. It only hurts the ad industry's reputation and the reputation of the products being advertised. But people have become numb to it I think. Vitamins and "supplements" are just an example in an ocean of examples.

 

I think they are uniquely useless, though. Is a $50 pillow worth it? Probably not, but you can still rest your head on it. Is a second metal wallet worth the extra $10 shipping & handling? Probably not, but you can still put it in your pocket. Vitamins and supplements are, for most people and most situations, either worthless or positively harmful. They should be banned, restricted, or have large warning labels on them. The companies hyping them should be fined heavily for their lies. Things like Centrum that have 100% of your daily recommended dose but no more than that should have a warning on them, "Causes gas."

 

Today's spiel by Dirty Donald, regarding big pharma and drug prices, was a waste of words he said absolutely nothing and Wall St responded almost immediately, as drug company stock prices along with health insurers and all medical related stocks rose.

 

But that is a political system that allows corporate monopolies to write the laws.
Lobbying is a legalized corruption, corruption is always expensive for the people.
Since no one protest lobby, the assumption is that American people like to pay those exorbitant prices.

 

I don’t blame drug corporations – corporations are created for profit and should use any legal means to maximize profit. Why dog licks his balls? Because he can, and the same with drug corporations. Who allows drug corporations to create monopolies and strange laws which allow to keep drug prices extremely high in the US? America voters who elect to the Senate and the Congress politicians who care first of all for drug companies.

I heard President Trump wants to solve this problem, I hope he will solve it better than he solved problem with tax loopholes (carried interest and varied real estate tax loopholes)

zalek

 

It's not that congress cares first for drug companies, they care for all the money drug companies donate to their campaign, political party which is in the millions, tens of millions in some instances. Trump knows how the game is played. He was one of those unseen players. When asked after Trump announced his bid for the Republican nomination for the presidency back in August of 2015 why he had donated tons of money to the Democratic Party in the past, Trump simply said, "I give to politicians, they give back."

 

All of the above. The US system is rotten, capitalism run amok.

 

I looks I was right saying "hope he will solve it better than he solved problem with tax loopholes (carried interest and varied real estate tax loopholes)"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...-lower-drug-prices/ar-AAx8WIt?ocid=spartanntp

zalek

 

Another Skreli...

US Drug Company Chief: 'Moral Requirement' for Big Price Hike
September 12, 2018 - A U.S. pharmaceutical executive is defending his price boost of a key antibiotic by 400 percent to almost $2,400 a bottle as a "moral requirement," a claim that drew an immediate rebuke from the country's drug regulatory chief.

 

I can get black market drugs cheaper than using the healthcare for profit system..

 

Corporate GREED!

 

Corporations don't have greed. People do. The marketplace is likely to shut down most or all of the price hike.

 

And corporations are run by people.