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General discussion

About price controls on meds.......

Feb 25, 2004 10:59AM PST

Discussion is locked

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Re: About price controls on meds.......
Feb 25, 2004 12:25PM PST

Hi, Del.

It was probably me. Point is, every other major country has price controls, so were' paying far above our share of R&D expenses etc. There's also the issue of the increasing drug advertising -- just think about how many ultra-expensive drug ads were on the superbowl, all adding to the "cost of drugs." But at the very last the government should be able to do with Medicaid/medicare what every other major drug provider does (e.g. Humana, Caremark, Merck Medco, etc.) -- use their size to negotiate lower unit prices. That's specifically prohibited by the recent "Medicare reform" act, which is really the "pharma industry profit guarantee" act!

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Re:Re: About price controls on meds.......
Feb 25, 2004 12:38PM PST

Have you contacted your elected reps in Wash DC, and given them the benefit of your thoughts ? If not, Why not !, and If so, do it again !, and again !, and again !

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Re:Re: About price controls on meds.......
Feb 25, 2004 11:55PM PST

Dave,

Have you seen any stated justification (rationalization) for this no bargaining position?

Dan

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A funny thing about those foreign price controls ...
Feb 26, 2004 8:29AM PST

The foreign price controls effectively raise the cost of drugs in the US and limit development of new medications for everybody.

At some point we have to choose between the relatively expensive medications that are developed as a result of the current high ROI for drug companies vs the lower costs resulting from cost control measures that will likely result in reduced innovation in the pharmacy industry.

Personally I think we need some sort of national insurance program sans national drug price limits. If it were structured properly the plan would allow multiple insurance companies to compete for patients. Let each individual insurance company negotiate a price with various pharmaceutical benefit managers.