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Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

reuters.com

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Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#81

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

lenkite wrote: post #74
lotsofpulp wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, people should be asking their federal politician why the US federal government is not spending the few billion dollars on drug trials to avoid having to pay extra to pharmaceutical companies. But instead, people rail at health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and others who can’t or won’t make a difference.

> But instead, people rail at health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and others who can’t or won’t make a difference. Because this is the Corrupt Evil Nexus that continues to ensure that taxpayer funds and exclusive patents keep flowing to them, while keeping prices high. They buy political power via campaign financing by the bucketload and the congressman/woman changes their vote to kill/oppose bill…

Which bill are you referring to? The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act passed with a provision allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

(Although it is, of course, true that having special drug rates for Medicare trends against rather than towards "clear and consistent pricing".)

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#82

Post by hypeatei »

blackbear_ wrote: post #77
hypeatei wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming you're European and just want to make an "America bad" post because this is comically ignorant. There wouldn't be mountains of federal code to adhere to if that was the case. This is a trope among populists: pass legislation around , observe consequences of doing so, blame the "free market", repeat.

What other countries could teach the U.S. about bringing down drug prices A look at how European governments negotiate with pharma companies helps explain why Americans pay more for prescription drugs. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/11/what-other-countri...

Sure, but that article literally contradicts your original point about Americans wanting a "free market" as it lists the complicated nature of existing laws, Medicare, PBMs etc. and the incentives those create.

You could just say "Americans need to vote better and cleanup their laws around this" and yes, that would be ideal, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It's part of why some want the government to not involve themselves at all: no matter how good the politicians you elect, others can come into office and fuck it all up while everyone is forced to deal with it because they have the monopoly on violence. Not to mention the glacial pace at which our legislative bodies move.

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#83

Post by mothballed »

why-o-why wrote: post #79
mothballed wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the hospital expects to actually ever get paid what they bill out, or anything at all, if it's not paid onsite or by insurance.

>> I don't think the hospital expects to actually ever get paid what they bill out OH YES THEY ABSOLUTELY DO! When I was in-between jobs I had a medical emergency and I was on the ACA around the first year it was offered. I was billed above medicare rates so I was on the hook for ~40k after out of pocket max. They told me this limit is what insurance has to cover but hospitals can still bill above it. First they told…

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Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#84

Post by mxkopy »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #46
acdha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t do pro bono PR for those companies. Healthcare isn’t so complicated that every other country in the world hasn’t been able to solve it for significantly less money and far less stress for users, not to mention better health outcomes in most cases.

Providing a chain of reasoning to support a logical conclusion is not “pro bono PR for those companies”. Claiming that someone doing that seems like an emotional kneejerk reaction to an idea that does not jive with the model of the world you would like to have. I even provided an example of a healthcare provider choosing to be more transparent. It is always Eli Lilly’s choice to sell their medicine at a flat price to…

> US textbooks cost multiple times more than the international version of the textbook

I mean, I think a lot of the incentives behind textbook pricing in the US are honestly not that dissimilar to the ones in healthcare. I know Pearson is particularly egregious for price gouging students because they have exclusive deals with schools to provide the textbook for some specific class or subject. They raise prices because f*ck it why not, they won’t get pushback, which is not a valid reason to do so in most other countries.

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#85

Post by why-o-why »

mothballed wrote: post #83
why-o-why wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I don't think the hospital expects to actually ever get paid what they bill out OH YES THEY ABSOLUTELY DO! When I was in-between jobs I had a medical emergency and I was on the ACA around the first year it was offered. I was billed above medicare rates so I was on the hook for ~40k after out of pocket max. They told me this limit is what insurance has to cover but hospitals can still bill above it. First they told…

[]

I really don't believe you, but according to HN, I am supposed to trust in good faith you aren't lying.

Maybe you just don't have any assets or make very little money. I have equity and cannot just toss it to a collection agency and hope they forget. I also play by the rules, silly, I know, but I don't want to risk getting fucked some other way later in life.

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#86

Post by lenkite »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #81
lenkite wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But instead, people rail at health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and others who can’t or won’t make a difference. Because this is the Corrupt Evil Nexus that continues to ensure that taxpayer funds and exclusive patents keep flowing to them, while keeping prices high. They buy political power via campaign financing by the bucketload and the congressman/woman changes their vote to kill/oppose bill…

Which bill are you referring to? The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act passed with a provision allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. (Although it is, of course, true that having special drug rates for Medicare trends against rather than towards "clear and consistent pricing".)

I am talking about the "Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2021", then "Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act", then "Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act". They all had MUCH stronger drug-pricing proposals, all got stalled shamefully, with a watered-down version in BBB, which was further diluted in IRA that big pharma laughed at and accepted.

More specifically, the stronger acts which were killed by Big Pharma bribes would have

- Tied U.S. prices to international reference pricing (e.g., prices paid in Europe)

- Broad Medicare negotiation for many high-cost drugs - including dozens of new drugs.

- Applied negotiated prices beyond Medicare in the commercial market. (Private Insurance too!)

- Imposed strong penalties on drug companies that refused to comply

- Generated large federal savings. Also would have had faster rollout. Remember IRA pricing is YET to come into effect.

PS: Look at the Senators who diluted drug-pricing in BBB even further to a bad JOKE. (lol at price reduction for 10 drugs in 2026). Look at whom they received bribes oops..donations from.

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#87

Post by [deleted] »

why-o-why wrote: post #85
mothballed wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[]

I really don't believe you, but according to HN, I am supposed to trust in good faith you aren't lying. Maybe you just don't have any assets or make very little money. I have equity and cannot just toss it to a collection agency and hope they forget. I also play by the rules, silly, I know, but I don't want to risk getting fucked some other way later in life.

[deleted]

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#88

Post by anthuswilliams »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #24
Uvix wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Health insurance in general is the problem; PBMs/discount cards are just a cherry on top. Insurance is fundamentally incompatible with clear and consistent pricing.

Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and doctors are free to charge by the medicine, by the night, and by the minute. For example, this place does it: https://surgerycenterok.com/surgery-prices/ Insurance companies do not force the sellers to use complex billing practices, they would benefit from more transparent pricing (since they are seeking to pay less). The root cause is healthcare is inherently complicated and…

Insurance companies absolutely benefit from the higher and opaque prices, because they negotiate rebates with providers. This allows them to maximize patient copays and ensures they hit their deductible, i.e. paying as much as possible under their respective insurance plans. Contrast this with a no-rebate world with cheaper/more transparent pricing. Fewer patients would hit their out of pocket maximum.

They can use the rebates they get from the providers to subsidize the insured, allowing them to offer lower premiums and gain market share. This is what people mean when they say "In America, the sick people pay to subsidize the health care of the healthy people".

Of course, that above only applies if there is competitive pressure. If there is no competitive pressure (e.g. in states with only one or two insurers), they can keep premiums high and book as profit the difference between what the patient paid out and what the patient would have paid out in a lower-cost no-rebate world.

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#89

Post by prirun »

why-o-why wrote: post #79
mothballed wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the hospital expects to actually ever get paid what they bill out, or anything at all, if it's not paid onsite or by insurance.

>> I don't think the hospital expects to actually ever get paid what they bill out OH YES THEY ABSOLUTELY DO! When I was in-between jobs I had a medical emergency and I was on the ACA around the first year it was offered. I was billed above medicare rates so I was on the hook for ~40k after out of pocket max. They told me this limit is what insurance has to cover but hospitals can still bill above it. First they told…

This is called "balance billing" and the No Surprises Act usually prevents it, especially in emergency cases.

https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/no-surprises-act/

Re: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure

#90

Post by stefan_ »

mystraline wrote: post #16
dfxm12 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rueters doesn't show a paywall for me. The source of the pressure described is in the headline though. I'm not sure why OP editorialized it (as it is against hn guidelines): Exclusive: Drugmakers raise US prices on 350 medicines despite pressure from Trump .

I think its obvious: theres a LOT of love for Trump here in VC circles. So anything speaking ill of his laughable policies, EO's, and other garbage is -1'ed or flagged to oblivion.

Ironically the past 6 months now all the political content is just insta dead flagged and removed, the love isn't lost but nobody wants to be the one responsible for defending it.

I'm sure Trump pressure will soon bring those 1000% savings on pharmaceuticals, just hold on.

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