this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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founded 1 year ago
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“This was an unexpected victory in a long fight against an illegal cartel of three corporations who have raised their insulin prices in lockstep.”

The Biden Administration pleasantly stunned health care reform advocates Tuesday by including short-acting insulin in its list of 10 drugs for which Medicare will negotiate lower prices, power vested in the White House by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRA was passed in the face of one of the heftiest barrages of lobbying in congressional history, with the pharmaceutical industry spending more than $700 million over 2021 and 2022 — several times more than the second- and third-ranking industries — much of it aimed at stopping the legislation, watering it down, or undermining its implementation.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 149 points 1 year ago (4 children)

They need to find a way to negotiate the price down for everyone, not just retirees. Kids need insulin.

And after that, epi pens.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 108 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Here’s some good news about that with California making its own insulins:

The state-label insulins will cost no more than $30 per 10 milliliter vial, and no more than $55 for a box of five pre-filled pen cartridges — for both insured and uninsured patients. The medicines will be available nationwide, the governor's office said.

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1164572757/california-contract-cheap-insulin-calrx

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

That is really great news. Thanks!

[–] PickTheStick@ttrpg.network 13 points 1 year ago

I wish the process would be repeated by the federal government, for every similar drug that could be produced with their patent's expiration.

[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Where are all of the "think of the children" folk? Not important now that they're born.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

"If you're pre-born, you're fine. If you're preschool, you're fucked." -- George Carlin

Except even that isn't true, because those "choose life" assholes don't give two fucks about poor women without insurance being unable to afford pre-natal care. If your fetus dies from something preventable, fuck you lady.

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[–] evatronic@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The problem is the government can't set the price of goods in a private contract between two non-government entities, which is what would need to happen. The various bills you see in states setting co-pay caps is about as close as we can get, and that only happens because the government CAN regulate insurance companies and the policies they offer. While that might, eventually, put pressure on the insurance companies to demand lower prices from the manufacturers, it's a long way disconnected from the price paid by the patient.

And regulating copays doesn't help people without insurance at all.

That's why this is such an important step. When prescription coverage was added to Medicare, the ability of the government to negotiate drug prices was specifically striped from the bill. The Inflation Reduction Act added it back, finally. And it's a huge win. Medicare and Medicaid are enormous programs, and when they throw their weight around, they can affect the markets they're in dramatically. It's why the drug companies are already filing suit.

But the real solution isn't trying to force private insurance companies to play ball, or make drug manufacturers sell at a low price, it's to leverage that giant market pressure and expand Medicare eligibility to everyone. And if you're worried about funding? Don't be. Unlike social security, Medicare's tax has no maximum wage.

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[–] SteveJobs@lemmy.world 135 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The pharmaceutical industry spent $700 million lobbying against this? What a bunch of assholes.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 82 points 1 year ago (6 children)

And they’ve already filed lawsuits:

The suits make similar and overlapping claims that Medicare negotiations are unconstitutional.

The companies argue that the talks would force drugmakers to sell their medicines at huge discounts, below market rates. They assert this violates the Fifth Amendment, which requires the government to pay reasonable compensation for private property taken for public use.

The suits also argue that the process violates drugmakers’ free speech rights under the First Amendment, essentially forcing companies to agree that Medicare is negotiating a fair price.

They also contend that the talks violate the Eighth Amendment by levying an excessive fine if drugmakers refuse to engage in the process.

Just ridiculous.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/29/10-drugs-to-face-medicare-price-negotiations-see-the-list.html

[–] Ertebolle@kbin.social 66 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

A great way to tell that a business is making way too much money is when they can afford to hire monkey cages full of lawyers to fling every terrible legal argument they can think of at you in the hope that one of them somehow sticks.

[–] TigrisMorte@kbin.social 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It is more cynical than that. They want to out spend the resources available to fight them, not win a legal case.

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[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And yet in every other country where they have to bargain against a centralized healthcare system, they are able to provide a decent price.

The US needs to take decisive action against these sociopaths.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern 7 points 1 year ago

Preferably with guillotines.

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The companies argue that the talks would force drugmakers to sell their medicines at huge discounts, below market rates. They assert this violates the Fifth Amendment, which requires the government to pay reasonable compensation for private property taken for public use.

It will be interesting to watch this shake out, because this decision could have a lot of knock-off effects when it comes to further price negotiations by the government across a wide array of sectors.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

"Below market rate"

If only looking at the USA where pharmaceutical companies are free to do as they please, but probably still higher than in any other rich countries in the world.

[–] SCB@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah I think that's going to end up being a pivotal distinction here, as these are companies with global reach and thus "market rate" will be a difficult concept to defend.

Exclusivity contracts would be one thing, but suggesting this is an egregious step by the US government is going to be a difficult case to prove imo.

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[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just reading this it looks like they had this in their back pocket for a while lol

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[–] blue_zephyr@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Market rates aren't reasonable compensation.

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[–] AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

When your reaction to poor, sick human beings getting the medicine they need without losing everything else in their lives is disappointment, you're a bad person.

Fuck market capitalism and the sociopaths it creates.

Edit: and of course they're actively suing from their steel towers for the right to continue to gouge sick, poor people deeper into poverty. What a humane economic system, amirite?

[–] DoomBot5@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Watching the anime called "The Great Cleric". It's pretty accurately describes this in a fantasy setting.

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[–] Gazumi@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Meanwhile, those same companies sell for a fraction of the price all around the world.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You’re not kidding. Somebody did a survey in 2018 of insulin prices around the world, and here are the top ten most expensive:

  • United States — $98.70
  • Chile — $21.48
  • Mexico — $16.48
  • Japan — $14.40
  • Switzerland — $12.46
  • Canada — $12.00
  • Germany — $11.00
  • Korea — $10.30
  • Luxembourg — $10.15
  • Italy — $10.03

The study revealed that the manufacturer price for any given type of insulin averaged five to ten times higher in the U.S. ($98.70 USD) than in all other OECD countries ($8.81 on average).

Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-insulin-by-country

[–] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 year ago

Holy shit, the drop from the US to Chile is insane.

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[–] 1bluepixel@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago

Won't somebody think about the pharma shareholders!

[–] oldbaldgrumpy@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I don't know how this is a negotiation...big pharma overcharges the USA by a lot...we all know it. How is this not illegal? Why are they not held accountable for inflating prices for 1 group of people? Imagine if they did the to just a single race...black, white, Asian, whatever... Is t it the same thing?

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[–] Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Insurance companies when you need to use their service (which you pay monthly for):

  • sorry I'm your doctor now and I'm not going to pay for that test Insurance companies when they need to bribe law makers:
  • money go brrrtr
[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 8 points 1 year ago

They throw a few million in the right pockets and they make billions in return, best investment they ever made.

[–] li10@feddit.uk 23 points 1 year ago (11 children)

As someone from the UK, I don’t know what to make of the Biden administration.

I see positive news articles about what they’re doing, then I see people (not just right wing) saying it’s going poorly…

Obviously things can always be better and there are going to be areas where they’re failing, but how actually is it going over all?

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 54 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Biden is fine. A lot of people are looking for someone who is going to revolutionize things overnight. A lot of folks also like to give the President blame or credit for things out of his control. Overall I've been pleasantly surprised. All I really wanted was not Trump, but Biden has been a lot better than that.

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[–] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If we pretend Trump wasn't a thing, I'd say Biden is really living up to his campaign promise of "nothing will fundamentally change." By that I mean, he hasn't personally done anything amazing or terrible, and he hasn't gotten in the way of others, either.

For instance, this has the fingerprints of Bernie Sanders all over it, who chairs several committees in congress, including the relevant one for this. Has Biden stopped Bernie Sanders? No, and while I wish that fact wasn't a win, it is.

Bernie isn't alone in being the only good thing about our current government, either, but Biden also hasn't removed some of the terrible things the trump administration set up. The Environmental Protection Agency has rolled back a bunch of things I'm very upset about. It is my personal belief that he's heavily influenced by certain groups (insurance) but is trying in other areas.

Biden isn't at all supporting policies that are just common sense if you live anywhere else, and while the UK isn't the best, I've discussed this with a British friend and I still include them in that. In short, you have more protections from your government that they need to try to remove first.

In my opinion if Biden had been elected after Obama or after a normal Republican he would've basically had a quiet presidency and been one of the ones you don't really mention in history because nothing happened. Standard calls for corruption, but not worse than any regular senators. In today's world, that's positive, with Republican candidates promising to abolish the department of education, but in another world where things aren't full of neonazis and fascists, I'd be saying it's awful, because I would have wanted a president that would change things for the better, and now I'm just beaten down enough to be ok with "Nothing will fundamentally change."

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only we could pretend Trump wasn't a thing... sadly the courts, and many government agencies, will never be the same.

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[–] blue_zephyr@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I feel like he isn't a deranged narcissist who would nuke his own country if it somehow benefited him.

The bar is on the floor for the Republicans.

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I cannot caps this enough.

ABOUT. GODDAMN. TIME.

[–] TruTollTroll@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Good!!! Stop the pharmacist companies

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