By Isaac Deak
Insulin prices have skyrocketed in recent years, creating a hardship on the growing number of diabetics in the US. Progressive politicians, naturally, blame the free market.
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103 sats \ 4 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 7 Nov
The conundrum is how to get out of the previous trap.
The politicians get paid off.
The cronies get handsome profits.
Pharma sucks all round.
Doctors make money on it, too.
I saw, in India, that you could walk up to the chemist and buy anything you could name. And if you couldn’t name it, you could tell them what you wanted it to do and for what reason and they would make a suggestion. This cut everyone else out of the stream. BTW, I don’t think they honor patents in India (or at least, they didn’t, then).
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57 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 7 Nov
My wife and I often joke about how you have to go to a civilized country like Mexico to buy medicine without a government permission slip.
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34 sats \ 1 reply \ @jeff 8 Nov
Its my understanding that the gangs in Mexico have a code. A common code. In other countries, the criminals get promoted to "politicians" and "executives", and then the code changes for them.
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41 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 8 Nov
At least the last time I was there, far more drugs were available over the counter than in America.
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7 sats \ 0 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 8 Nov
That is, indeed, a good joke!
We are being cut off by red tape.
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64 sats \ 4 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 7 Nov
Hello @Undisciplined, I wonder how I missed posting this one! I might have had it queued up but got off on a different trail.
Anyway, it is due to government interference in the marketplace in two particulars: regulation and patents.
Regulations stifle the competition in the retail area and production area and patents interfere with improvements and innovations.
Both areas work to keep the prices down but state cronies profit from the interference, so they can then bribe the state actors in return. Revolving doors.
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6 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 7 Nov
There are some other mechanisms that have to do with the badly distorted price system.
It's been a while since I went through the details, but there are basically a lot of completely fake prices in American medicine. These phony prices are enormously greater than what anyone actually pays and they enable large tax write-offs and greater nominal profits.
There are a bunch of great episodes of Econ Talk on the subject.
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13 sats \ 2 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 8 Nov
One of the extras in the prices to hospitals is that they have to supply services to people who cannot pay. So they raise the prices to those who can pay (with and without insurance). Socialism in action.
Three cheers for Obama care!
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24 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 8 Nov
There's a socialism element there and a grift. They get to write off the costs of the services that they provided for free. They also negotiate their prices down with everyone who can pay (usually through their insurers). That's what I mean by the prices all being fake.
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8 sats \ 0 replies \ @Rothbardian_fanatic 8 Nov
Yes, they will not advertise prices for comparative purposes, either.
To me it looks gritty and like cronyism all round.
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8 sats \ 2 replies \ @Satosora 7 Nov
This is something that has bothered me.
A small vial of insulin is so expensive.
And the formula to make it hasnt really been changed significantly.
It should be generic by now.
Without health insurance, it would be impossible to afford.
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14 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 7 Nov
It's odd, because there is much cheaper insulin that can be purchased at retail outlets. I've heard that stuff isn't identical and some people can't use it, but it does seem to prove the concept.
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6 sats \ 0 replies \ @Satosora 7 Nov
It is probably made using a different method.
Medicine companies like to tweak their formula slightly so that they can keep their patents.
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