Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real? • Hacker News Board

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#491

Post by H12 » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:29 PM UTC

hyperhopper wrote: post #293

Sophistifunk wrote: post #289

"Big Pharma" in the eyes of the public is two related but separate issues; 1) the weird employment-insurance-hospital loop that has developed in the US, and the terrible second-order-consequences of all the open-high/settle-low insurer carer system it led to, and 2) the medicine advertisements, and all the terrible consequences thereof. The second one seems like a much easier thing to get rid of using hard government…

There is also a third issue: The high cost of medicines that are low cost to produce, and are sold at low cost elsewhere

I think it's fair to characerize this as a symptom of the emplyment/insurance/hospital loop outlined in issue #1 of the original comment.

That relationship between those three parties is the root cause of the messed up incentive model responsible for the ridiculously high costs of all products/services in US healthcare; pharma included.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#492

Post by stevespang » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:30 PM UTC

Big corporations are better organized and better lawyer equipped than the Gov't, and can generally outspend the Gov't in legal proceedings.

The best and brightest lawyers don't work for the lower paying Gov't - - they work for the best paying huge corporations.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#493

Post by pydry » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:32 PM UTC

mpmpmpmp wrote: post #487

deregulateMed wrote: post #35

Big pharma is significantly less of a problem than the physician and hospital cartels. I have no idea why these groups have survived scrutiny for their literal multi-hundred million dollar lobbying/bribery of politicians. My closest guess is that we all know "My" physician or a well paid nurse that benefits from the bribery.

"Well paid nurse"... Now thats a funny one.

Capital loves to blame labor, capital owns the media and we're inclined to believe their stories.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#494

Post by dfxm12 » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

TheHypnotist wrote: post #467

mlindner wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the good ideas are under the "Encourages" type of thing. How does this actually do anything?

It's an executive order, there is only so much the President can mandate outside of the organizations he controls. Look at most of Trump's presidency, feckless EO's that in the end were reversed anyway or were blocked by a court. My guess is that the goal here is to have the regulating authorities be "encouraged" to put the screws to some of these big-X companies. In other words, have them set their policies based on…

A more cynical view is that the goal is to make it seem like the administration is trying to follow through with some campaign promises while not doing much of legwork to actually do it.

It takes very little to issue an EO. It takes more to work with colleagues in congress to actually implement some of the stuff laid out here. Biden's predecessor really laid the framework here and turned it into an artform - issue a worthless EO, get a great photo op and some feel good stories in the media, then everyone forgets why they can't figure out hospital prices in a few weeks again.

For some more context, it is within Biden's power to appoint an assistant attorney general for antitrust, but as of last week, he still hasn't [0]. I'm not sure how serious this rhetoric around strengthening antitrust guidance really is, in light of that.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but I think this administration has earned my skepticism. Time will tell.

0 - https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-tech/2021/07/07...

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#495

Post by ashtonkem » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:34 PM UTC

qq4 wrote: post #325

ashtonkem wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contact lens prescriptions change though, and bad contacts can do subtle damage to the wearer’s eye. I have permanent scarring in my eyes because I over-wore my 2 week contacts, my fault I know, but without an eye doctor appointment I would have done even more damage.

Wow, no kidding? I used to wear mine for months, maybe even close to a year. Anytime I had my eyes examined I asked how my eyes looked due to the constant wear and the optometrist told me they looked great but frowned at me doing so. I figured the disposable contact thing was mostly a racket, but I had some doubts. I wear glasses now.

These were the 2 week variety that were on sale between 2008 and 2012, after which I changed to 1 month lenses. It’s possible that newer lenses are better when worn outside the recommended range.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#496

Post by hajile » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:37 PM UTC

anthony_barker wrote: post #378

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This one is particularly prickly because the high cost paid in the US funds medical R&D and extremely expensive clinical trials which other countries are free riding on by imposing price controls. We still need to fund the R&D and clinical trials (unless they could be made less expensive somehow), so the most obvious solution would be to have other countries pay their fair share so the US could stop subsidizing every…

I would argue Big Pharma free rides its self on research from universities around the world which are mostly publicly funded and not for profit. The US represents less than 34% of global research. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17354441/

Patents are an attempt to protect risk. If you're getting my money to invest without any risk to yourself, you don't deserve a patent.

Here's an easy solution:

Patent and copyright times are limited proportionally by the percentage of government money invested and at the end of that time, the research must be made publicly available.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#497

Post by josh_today » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:37 PM UTC

tyre wrote: post #245

josh_today wrote: post #237

Executive orders were a constant theme of the previous administration. It was the first time that I’ve really heard about them consistently as a presidential technique and similarly as much in the media. The lower executive order numbers from the previous 2 administrations before made me think that these were tools used for media attention when I kept hearing about them. Now the current administration is using them (…

Really? They were a huge topic of conversation when W was president and then again for obama.

Looking at EO’s issued per year to account for 8 vs 4 year terms, Trump’s administration is the highest

https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/execu...

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#498

Post by renewiltord » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:39 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #396

renewiltord wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lobbying to: A. Limit medical care to being provided by these people B. Limit number of residencies

You have that backwards. The AMA is actively lobbying to increase the number of residencies. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-fun...

Haha this is exactly why point source information is so damaging. The AMA spent years keeping this tightened down by spending money and then they started issuing press releases asking for the opposite (but this time, conspicuously leaving off the money spending).

This naïveté is typical of HN. You’d read a press release from ISIS and conclude they’ve built a paradise. You need more knowledge than you can Google up. You need to be aware of what they did and do over the last 30 years.

But it’s okay, you can believe falsehoods. No skin off my back.

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#499

Post by warglebargle » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

s1artibartfast wrote: post #354

warglebargle wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a lot of it can be rolled into “diversity is better” IMO - lots of diverse types of leaders, diverse strategies, perspectives, risks, failures, etc… mega large companies don’t give us as much benefit as they’d like us to think… I’d even argue that they’re worst in most ways for 99% of the people involved

I prefer a more competitive, dynamic, and diverse market for almost all products as well. However, most of this thread is pie in the sky wishful thinking that busting big corps will solve all of societies ills. Attribution of these ills to mega corps often ignores the actual problem and obfuscates the real solutions.

sure but you also have to consider that big corps often lobby against solutions… busting them up isn’t the sole solution, but it probably helps

Re: Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?

#500

Post by CountDrewku » Mon, Jul 12, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

Hani1337 wrote: post #464

The reason we can afford universal health care in my country is because there are hard caps to the prices health professionals can legally ask, be it for fees or medication prices. If the prices are kept closer to their real value, and not inflated prices, then it's already much more affordable to consider paying for universal health care.

Yes there's a good argument that insurance in the US has artificially increased prices. College loans have done similar. This is why the ACA (obamacare) kinda failed to fix most of the issues. Care is much too expensive.