Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

statnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 274 posts

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#171

Post by petesergeant »

daveguy wrote: post #150
cogman10 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone know what's going on with the ACA marketplace? I like to take a peek at it every so often and it's just stupendously worse than employer healthcare. There is no plan in my market (Idaho) which doesn't have extreme out of network deductibles. The cost is also identical to what I and my employer pay for insurance. Is it just that the ACA is mostly used by sick people or something?

It's because health insurance companies need to pad their profits. Because we have a backward system in the US where profits are extracted by everyone without any competition from a not-for-profit. That's why the idea of a public option is so popular (it was originally a Republican idea until it was decided insurance company profits are more desirable). Personally, I don't think any health insurance company should be…

> Because we have a backward system in the US where profits are extracted by everyone without any competition from a not-for-profit.

California has an excellent non-profit option, and it depresses prices a bit, but not a huge amount

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#172

Post by estearum »

xp84 wrote: post #15
aucisson_masque wrote: post #9

in some part of europe, we have national healthcare so basically people don't think they are paying their medications, like there was some magic money. in that case, you don't care if you drug cost 10€ or 2000€ because you aren't spending a single € from your own wallet, at least if you don't factor in taxes. Contrary to the USA where it's a much more responsible market, people do pay for the medications or they get…

> I would think that americans would be much more vigilant about what medication they take, the price it cost, and so would have much lower pricing. > Is it the proof that a true unregulated free market doesn't work ? The market is heavily regulated (frequently crazily) by the FDA, and the actual amount anything costs is heavily obscured from the eyes of any consumers by the fog of bureaucracy and insurance. Many peo…

FDA’s regulations are basically unrelated to the healthcare system and what makes American healthcare so expensive.

GP is right that monopolization and vertical integration (as you allude to in your comment) is much more salient.

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#173

Post by jonhohle »

cogman10 wrote: post #137
trashface wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FYI for anyone who isn't familiar with the wacky US insurance situation: Nobody in the US actually pays $800 for the drug. That's the "list price" for insurance companies to pay. Even insurance companies don't pay that price because they negotiate their own rates with the drug companies, which are lower. This isn't really true on obamacare/ACA plans, even the high-end ones like gold PPOs. The formularies are much w…

Anyone know what's going on with the ACA marketplace? I like to take a peek at it every so often and it's just stupendously worse than employer healthcare. There is no plan in my market (Idaho) which doesn't have extreme out of network deductibles. The cost is also identical to what I and my employer pay for insurance. Is it just that the ACA is mostly used by sick people or something?

As a solo dev, I’ve been on ACA with my family for the past four years. In my market, a major insurance company is not returning for 2026 and the prices have gone bananas. Our premiums are increasing over 40%, all of our copays are more than doubling, and the deductible is astronomical. In many cases the cash pay price is probably cheaper than the insurance negotiated rate.

I’m the plus side, all bronze plans can contribute to HSAs next year.

We compared individual plans off market, but they’re mostly the same without HSA access or they’re targeting people with specific ailments (e.g. the diabetes plan).

On top of that, consolidation of hospital systems has made wait times for GPs months unless you’re lucky enough to find a cancelation. We have some older Canadian ex-pat friends and it seems like our health system has all of the downsides of socialized systems, plus we get to pay Cadillac prices.

I’m really hoping 2026 is so bad that something breaks enough to resolve some fundamental issues with private health costs, but I’m not naive enough to think it’s likely. ACA was such a monumental gift to someone, but it definitely not individuals who need family coverage.

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#174

Post by cyberax »

nkmnz wrote: post #96

The drug in question is perfluorohexyloctane, which is part of a class of substances known as PFAS or „forever chemical“. I‘m a chemist, I love modern medicine and material technologies based on chemistry, and I don’t hesitate to take vaccines or other meds, and I also happen to have SEVERE dry eyes syndrome - but hell no, I’m not going to put that stuff into nature!

The volumes in question are milliliters per month. And perfluorohexyloctane has been used in much larger quantities for intraocular fluid replacement for about 3 decades without negative side effects.

The whole PFAS scare is waaaaay too overblown.

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#175

Post by wrs »

cogman10 wrote: post #137
trashface wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FYI for anyone who isn't familiar with the wacky US insurance situation: Nobody in the US actually pays $800 for the drug. That's the "list price" for insurance companies to pay. Even insurance companies don't pay that price because they negotiate their own rates with the drug companies, which are lower. This isn't really true on obamacare/ACA plans, even the high-end ones like gold PPOs. The formularies are much w…

Anyone know what's going on with the ACA marketplace? I like to take a peek at it every so often and it's just stupendously worse than employer healthcare. There is no plan in my market (Idaho) which doesn't have extreme out of network deductibles. The cost is also identical to what I and my employer pay for insurance. Is it just that the ACA is mostly used by sick people or something?

For one thing, as I understand it, the ACA was pretty effectively sabotaged by removing the mandate, which destroys the math that makes insurance work.

Because pre-existing conditions have to be covered, you're free to wait until you have a serious (expensive) condition, then sign up for an ACA plan. And there's no mandate that spreads that risk around to healthy people, so the population is severely skewed.

I have no definitive data on this, but it seems self-evident that the system can't work well.

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#177

Post by atonse »

cogman10 wrote: post #137
trashface wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FYI for anyone who isn't familiar with the wacky US insurance situation: Nobody in the US actually pays $800 for the drug. That's the "list price" for insurance companies to pay. Even insurance companies don't pay that price because they negotiate their own rates with the drug companies, which are lower. This isn't really true on obamacare/ACA plans, even the high-end ones like gold PPOs. The formularies are much w…

Anyone know what's going on with the ACA marketplace? I like to take a peek at it every so often and it's just stupendously worse than employer healthcare. There is no plan in my market (Idaho) which doesn't have extreme out of network deductibles. The cost is also identical to what I and my employer pay for insurance. Is it just that the ACA is mostly used by sick people or something?

I’ve used ACA plans off and on for about a decade. They’ve mostly been as good (of not better) than the employer plans we had once or twice.

So my guess is this is heavily state dependent. Maryland as a state isn’t hostile to ACA so I think they have solid plans.

I can also only speak for BlueCross plans.

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#178

Post by yunwal »

trollbridge wrote: post #86
yunwal wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're poor you just wait until you're borderline dying and then go to the E.R. and get charged $120,000 and then never pay it and then have debt collectors calling you for the rest of your life. Or you're on Medicaid if you live in a sane state.

Medicaid is available in all 50 states.

It is not available to all poor people in all states

https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/the-medicaid-coverage-g...

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#179

Post by Der_Einzige »

terminalshort wrote: post #43

If a drug isn't one of the following it should be available over the counter. 1. heinously addictive 2. incredibly dangerous when not used exactly correctly 3. an antibiotic (due to the resistance externality) And for drugs that do meet one of these conditions, doctors should be able to write lifetime prescriptions for cases where the medication is used to treat a permanent condition. This probably covers 95% of non-…

Before pearl clutching about individual abuse of antibiotics, let’s go after factory farms abusing them at scale.

I should be allowed to buy front line antibiotics from the grocery store. It’s infuriating that this is not possible..

Re: A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

#180

Post by dgeiser13 »

ekianjo wrote: post #168
xnorswap wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best thing about universal healthcare isn't how much money I may or may not have to pay, it's that I literally don't once have to think about a bill or filling out a form to avoid paying too much. I wouldn't care if I ended up paying more in tax than I would in an insurance model. The benefit is being able to 100% focus on my health instead of navigating a system to try to reduce what I'm paying. When you're diag…

In many countries where "universal healthcare" actually exists, you end up with waiting lists and rationed care. Choose your poison.

The US also has "waiting lists and rationed care".
Post reply on HN