Posted on 05/09/2016 7:13:29 AM PDT by SatinDoll
Oh yes it is.
"My parents were just vacationing in Europe (they go often so they're aware of how stuff works). My mom is diabetic and had a shortage of insulin while in France, they went to the drugstore and she showed the bottle of Humalog which is what she uses in the United States and the price in the United States is around $240 a bottle which is charged to her Medicare and insurance and can only be prescribed by her doctor."
"The pharmacist recognized the bottle and without having to go to a doctor sold her a bottle of insulin for US $25.00."
"This is the same brand made by Eli Lilly that she gets in the United States and why in the in the world that should be 1/10 of the price without having to go to the doctor for a prescription."
[Quoted with permission.]
Note this well folks: No prescription needed and 1/10th the price for the exact same drug.
Now fill your suitcase and bring same home with you and you'll go to prison. Note that you're not counterfeiting anything, you're not adulterating anything and you lawfully own that which you're bringing into the country for the purpose of nothing other than making a profit.
If this price-fixing, which is supposed to be a felony under 15 USC was to be stopped then the drug would cost $25/bottle -- or slightly more, since of course the person bringing it would like to make a profit -- here.
Even with a reasonable profit -- say, $5/bottle -- it would still collapse the price in the United States instantly.
Is it all drugs? No, definitely not, but the same issue applies to both procedures and supplies.
Put a stop to the racket and the cost of obtaining medical care, whether it be drug, device, service or procedure will drop like a stone. Further, no new laws are actually necessary since between 15 USC and state consumer protection laws are plenty-sufficient on their own. The entire rubric of "must buy insurance or be bankrupted by any material medical emergency" certainly fits the definition of a force-tied sale that also facially appears to be unlawful under that very same body of law.
You have been and are today being robbed with the explicit cooperation and assistance of the Federal and State governments folks. If it is not stopped now these practices will, within the next few years, consume the entirety of the Federal Budget at which point our economy and probability political system will collapse.
Non-catastrophic healthcare insurance eliminates the supply and demand dynamic for most medical services.
And we’re surprised there’s price gouging?
This is a subject I know little about but have a fair supply of comments, and the only comment I would make NOW is ... I pray this kind of correction is in Trump’s bag when he says he’ll do away with obamacare and replace it with something based on the free market
I heard of over the counter Insulin in other countries.
Time for TRUMP to negoitiate a better deal!
NOT time to nationalize our pharmacy.
Trump addressed this very thing in a couple of his rallies...
Europe, Canada and all the other single payers have price controls.
The US is subsidizing all the single payer countries.
We could go to price controls too but all the drug research would dry up. No new drug discoveries.
Price controls in the socialist single payer countries is the problem. Their prices do not cover research.
It is not expensive to manufacture a pill. The research is the real cost.
I buy Novelin N (Humulin N) for $28 per bottle. Course I buy it at the animal feed store.
Price fixing is an agreement (written, verbal, or inferred from conduct) among competitors that raises, lowers, or stabilizes prices or competitive terms. Generally, the antitrust laws require that each company establish prices and other terms on its own, without agreeing with a competitor.
Looks like Karl has an incorrect definition of price-fixing.
Society benefits from good healthcare. There is no way around that fact and no matter what system you prefer, free market or provided as government service, there are always those that are going to get substandard care and there are always those that get premium care.
My parents never “vacationed in Europe”. My parents died in 1971 and 2010. I never “vacationed in Europe” either. The time when I was there I was serving in the military. I had the pleasure of waiting until the anniversary of my birthday to schedule dental appointments for my wife.
40 years later, I am struggling to understand all the requirements and complications and cost impacts of ObamaCare and their bronze, silver and bronze bullshit.
The last people on my mind right now is “Big Pharma.”
France did not have to pay for development costs or the very expensive FDA testing.
So Europe is likely getting a free ride on American development and research.
Lots of different types of insulin and insulin drugs, all made for various different conditions:
http://www.goodrx.com/insulins
Drugs are a total racket.
“...but all the drug research would dry up. No new drug discoveries.”
In some ways that may be good, since most health issues are created by the person themselves.
Their choices of food, drink, sleep, activity, thought/how they handle stress or any situation.
ALL of which can be adjusted by the person, not just masked by Rx/medication.
Yes there are some Rx needs but we have been conditioned to expect we will need them instead of shown alternatives.
Plus, many side effects of Rx end up being the death of people, over time.
And the government approval process!
Thank you. Hammer hits nail. The socialist single payer countries refuse to pay for research in an effort to cut costs.
Drug prices do not cover research costs.
Services have long waiting to die lists.
Government paid health care hurts more people than it helps.
If the US goes to single payer, new drug research will be a thing of the past.
Any factoring of the difference in legal liability between countries?
I have never seen one of these stories to be fair or comprehensive. They always use an instance of “unfairness” without ever pointing out the root causes of that unfairness, which are usually (though not always) found in government interference of some kind.
I suppose I should read the whole post, but the opening often telegraphs what the author’s approach is.
Okay - now I read it. The author blames price-fixing.
But fails to acknowledge that there are price fixers on both sides of the Atlantic. The prices there are artificially held low by government interference. Which helps to inflate the U.S. prices.
The author failed to understand the whole story. Again.
It’s a fair point, but I don’t think they need to do any research into insulin.
You guys are paying 10x normal price for insulin. This is not because of research overhead. It’s because there’s no free market for insulin in the States.
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