Prescription drugs are not covered by healthcare here either

It's on the table for discussion right now, but if you don't have private insurance you pay for prescription drugs.

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Wilfried Heinle

Artificial Intelligence can never beat natural stupidity.

I think that last year Maine went to the drug companies and negotiated for it largest buyers (State, county workers union, Medicaid members). They basically said these are the prices we want on these drugs or we will find someone else. The drug companies matched the prices. Amazing what a large group of people can do when they put their money behind it.

Well I haven't seen an intelligent discussion on this issue yet.

The question is not really as you phrase it. The question is really who should pay for the enormous investments required to create new drugs and how should they pay it?

The way it is structured currently, the US consumers subsidize the healthcare costs for the entire world by paying sky high prices for the same drugs the rest of the world buys for pennies on the dollar.

Is this fair? Well, I am an evil conservative, but I actually think it is fair, to a certain point. I don't know what that point is, but I will agree that we are probably way past that point.

To take your question, if the government wields its buying power against the drug companies, these costs will either get shifted to other consumers or research will be reduced.

A related question is why not import drugs from Canada? Well, that approach seems silly. Why ship drugs out and ship them back again and risk quality problems and counterfeiting? An intelligent approach would be to require the drug companies to sell in Canada at the same price as here. The end result would be a big increase in prices in Canada and a small decrease here. Maybe that would be a good policy. I am undecided.

Hey, as long as you are importing from Canada, why not import from South Africa? What costs $100 here is probably about $.50 there.

Don't get hung up on your simple question since it is not really the point. What consumers in what countries should pay the bill? That is the real question.

I do agree that the drug companies must be allowed to make a profit on new drugs that they develop. I'm not sure what percentage that should be to be good for both them and the american consumer but there has to be some percentage that would make both happier.

If by "we" you mean the American citizenry, I think "we" would like to allow Medicare to negotiate mass purchase price directly from each drug company.

If by "we" you mean the American government, it'll never happen because the drug companies have lobbyists that are way too powerful for the citizens to fight against. The drug companies wrote the new medicare drug bill (or rather, their lobbyists did). That is why there are no drug discounts.

As long as Pfizer, Lily, et al are paying millions and millions and millions of $ a year for lobbyists and candidates we (the citizens) will always pay what the companies want, not what the market will bear.

I forgot to mention that I have seen a pro Kerry ad that says he is for these mass purchases. I guess that is true, but I have never heard him say it.

I don't know the solution, but we are getting gouged big time.

It doesn't seem like the free market is at work here. If a private concern was created in the US to buy massive quantities of perscription drugs....I'm betting they couldn't get Canadian prices.

So when Maine got lower prices, who got higher prices?

Drug companies sell the same drugs in different markets all over the world all the time. A drug that costs $100 here might be $5 in Mexico, $60 in Canada and $3 in Kenya.

The problem the drug companies have is that it costs a billion dollars to make the first pill, and $.10 to make every pill after that. Given that cost structure, what is a "fair" price for the pill?

Everyone wants to pay as close to $.10 as they can get away with and stick someone else for the $1,000,000,000. Someone has to pay that tab though, and just passing a law to try to dodge part of the bill is not the answer unless you answer the rest of the question.

Drug companies charge Mexicans say, $1.00 for that pill since they know if they charge $10.00, no one will buy it. Better to make $.90 than zero. They charge Americans $100 and Canadians $60 because people will buy it at those prices in those markets, they can still cover their marginal costs and start to recover their research.

So guys, answer the whole question, not the narrow question as viewed with blinders.

I don't know the answer. I am suspicious of interfering in the market, but other governments interfere, so maybe there is no real marketplace. I just don't know, but would really like to hear an intelligent answer.