A Common Blood Test Can Cost $11 or Almost $1k

Re:A Common Blood Test Can Cost $11 or Almost $1k by gumby on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @08:09AM (#19796333)

Fortunately there’s a natural experiment of precisely this: drug ads targeting consumers were illegal until 1985. The result has been an explosion in drug prices; the ads were used as a way to try to go around any pricing constraints.

I worked for a time in pharma and believe me direct to consumer was seen as a boon to profit margins, not a constraint.

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Re:A Common Blood Test Can Cost $11 or Almost $1k by colechristensen on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @02:11PM (#19799970)

I'm talking about grocery store ads selling baby back ribs for 2.99/lb not "got milk?" ads by the milk board.

Public transparent pricing that will drive consumers to pick and choose their health care providers would do great things for the ridiculous situation we are in.

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Re:A Common Blood Test Can Cost $11 or Almost $1k by nybble41 on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @05:43PM (#19801932)

That is an entirely predictable result when you have direct-to-consumer advertising but not direct-to-consumer supply. You just get all the demand the pharmaceutical companies can manufacture without any competition on the supply side to drive down prices.

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Re:A Common Blood Test Can Cost $11 or Almost $1k by BurningFrog on Wednesday May 01, 2019 @12:04PM (#19798423)

I see ads for drugs.

But I never see ads for cheap drugs.

So I think you're talking about different things.

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