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

mattstoller.substack.com

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

#511

Post by bushbaba »

acdha wrote: post #222
warble wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need everyone shopping around. You just need enough to drive the market, it isn't even necessarily a majority.

Kind of like how list price means everyone pays the same price for a car? What would happen is more of what we already see: tons of addons being pushed, rebates or other ways to adjust prices for some people without lowering them, random specialists and unnecessary services being pulled in relying on the fact that most people don’t realize they can and should say no, and a whole industry of people finding ways to say…

Flip side you can actually shop around for the best car price. Can’t even do that at us hospitals

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

#512

Post by s1artibartfast »

warglebargle wrote: post #499
s1artibartfast wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think it could help with some issues, and perhaps hurt with others.

I grew up in a farming community and even mom and pop farms paid into national associations with a strong lobbying arm. on the up side, at least these associations favor policy that is usually good for the industry at large.

That said, I think the real solution is making sure that government officials are accountable and not for sale. No amount of big company busting would fix that problem.

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

#513

Post by giantg2 »

renewiltord wrote: post #498
nradov wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Y…

Sources?

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

#514

Post by throwaway4220 »

R0b0t1 wrote: post #414
cycomanic wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it fascinating that the HN crowd complains about doctors being too expensive. I mean what is the comparative value that software developers add to society compared to doctors that justify their salaries (which are often on the same level or higher)?

Most people in IT related fields aren't at doctor level pay. I suspect the sentiment is from commonly interacting with absolutely useless doctors. There are a lot of them.

I've seen 200k+ salaries as standard here. Look up salaries of primary care physicians. Then add on the 50k+/year MD debt, and any undergrad debt.

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

#515

Post by throwaway4220 »

fallingknife wrote: post #188
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.

I have a medical condition with no cure, yet I still have to pay a doctor every 6 months to keep my prescription with no changes. Total racket.

Sorry to say but you'll have to find a better doctor if all you're getting is refills without being seen. It's a sad state of medicine but primary care is being rapidly replaced by NP/PAs who do a good job but are very regimented in their thinking.

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

#516

Post by throwaway4220 »

jjk166 wrote: post #304
asdff wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people do though. Imagine someone who just lets this stuff lapse and they are still being regularly prescribed stuff that should have been cancelled 8 years ago.

Just like how we require people to check in with their accountant every 6 months to make sure their finances are doing well, check in with a teacher and take a test every year to make sure our education is still up to date, and we have the cops investigate us biannually to catch any signs of legal trouble early. We don't and we shouldn't require everyone to be nannied just because some people might benefit - they can…

Please, sign a notarized document saying you, your family or the DA won't sue because you were (a) lost to follow-up, (b) developed a medical condition as you grew older, (c) got a side effect because of long term medical use. Then, don't waste ER time if you have a stroke or heart attack because government can't tell me not to eat trans fats.

And, by the way, if you have an accountant, you should check in more than once a year. It's not fair to them to dump stuff only during tax time. Also, I do have to do regular tests to make sure my medical knowledge is up to date.

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

#517

Post by jpadkins »

oblio wrote: post #484
dcolkitt wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I highly doubt that even without government intervention prices would be lower. Without government intervention , Amazon Basics would assuredly make dirt cheap versions of every major drug. You can argue that this is bad for other reasons, but theres zero doubt that drugs would be cheap as water without government intervention (including IP protection and FDA mandated trials).

Do I have to spell it out? "Cheaper but people die due to lead poisoning" (replace "lead" with your favorite toxic chemical) does not count as cheaper, for medicine. It needs to be cheaper and trustworthy. The Iron Line of medicine, I guess.

vitamins are pretty much unregulated for decades, but doesn't have this lead or toxic chemical problem. Why do you feel so strongly this would happen in medicine? Do you really think companies (who spend a lot of capital building a business) will knowingly waste it all away by selling medicine that poisons people?

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

#518

Post by throwaway4220 »

deregulateMed wrote: post #153
giantg2 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What organization and legislation was that?

American Medical Association, aka physicians

I say this as an MD: AMA can suck it. I don't pay them and I don't think they represent me or the profession.

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

#519

Post by noelherrick »

ergocoder wrote: post #302
ampdepolymerase wrote: post #7

How about Big Telecom and Big Fintech and Banking? Or is it simply because the rest did not pay enough to the lobbyists?

I have no idea why big tech is in there. If you think Google, apple, Microsoft, and Facebook are evil, then other kinds of business like Pharma, insurance, bank, agriculture are 10x Satan reborn combined.

This is more about power and reach. I'm going to pick on Facebook since they are easy to dislike. They are the medium of disinformation that is hurting the US and the world. First, people are joining extremist groups due to FB recommendations [0]. Second, vaccine misinformation has been spreading on FB. [1] Those are two horrific examples, but there's more.

0. https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/facebook-stop-gr... 1. https://www.vox.com/recode/22319681/vaccine-misinformation-f...

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

#520

Post by oblio »

jpadkins wrote: post #517
oblio wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do I have to spell it out? "Cheaper but people die due to lead poisoning" (replace "lead" with your favorite toxic chemical) does not count as cheaper, for medicine. It needs to be cheaper and trustworthy. The Iron Line of medicine, I guess.

vitamins are pretty much unregulated for decades, but doesn't have this lead or toxic chemical problem. Why do you feel so strongly this would happen in medicine? Do you really think companies (who spend a lot of capital building a business) will knowingly waste it all away by selling medicine that poisons people?

> vitamins are pretty much unregulated for decades, but doesn't have this lead or toxic chemical problem.

Check out John Oliver and see how many problems we're having due to unregulated vitamins.

Also vitamins are used by a ton fewer people than medicine, and for purposes far, far less risky than medicine.

> Why do you feel so strongly this would happen in medicine?

Because it would happen for sure without regulation. Maybe not to the degree I pointed out, but if they wouldn't be forced to go through all those clinical trials, etc., I'm 99% sure that bean counters in a company would decide: "you know, maybe we could reduce the dosage of that super expensive ingredient by 10%, the side effects will only be known after 10 years and we're here only until we cash in our checks in 2 quarters".

> Do you really think companies (who spend a lot of capital building a business) will knowingly waste it all away by selling medicine that poisons people?

There are companies that periodically change their name to "cleanse" their image. Telecom companies, for example. Plus, they'd only have to persuade doctors, not regular people. Regular people don't really know who makes their specific medicine anyway (don't believe me, go ask your grandpa who makes each of his 10 drugs he's taking).

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