LimaUniformNovemberAlpha wrote:USS Monitor wrote:Drug prices are so damn high because the healthcare system's payment structure is too convoluted, allowing people to just pass costs on rather than being held accountable by market pressures.
"Market pressures" do not apply to products where it's literally "buy or die."
Yes, they do. People die of treatable illnesses all the time because they were unable to afford treatment. This is a problem, but it probably would not be much more common under a free market because you would not have such inflated prices. For a parallel, look at colleges: Government subsidies to help people pay for college haven't made it easier for the average person to afford college. They've just allowed colleges to jack up prices.
Furthermore, not all prescriptions are literally "buy or die." Many people are on prescription drugs that they would not die if they stopped, cut back, or switched to a different medication. Perhaps the drug they are on is the most effective, or it's something they wanted to try because they were having trouble controlling the symptoms of a chronic condition, or it's something they nagged their doctor into prescribing after they saw a catchy ad on TV -- but it is not always the only option available.
USS Monitor wrote:Drug companies can price gouge insurance companies, and people will still demand that their insurance cover it. In a normal market, customers would look for cheaper alternatives
Which aren't always available if something is patented. Sounds to me like more of a case for abolishing medical patents; at least in the private sector; than anything else.
People hike prices on non-patented drugs too. Or drugs that are patented, but that drug is not the only existing treatment for the condition it treats.
What I was discussing is a separate issue from patents, and the issue would still exist if you abolished patents. The same type of price gouging also happens with medical devices, doctor's visits, and hospital stays -- not just prescriptions.