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Re:The insulin racket: why a drug made free 100 years ago is... by isaacyes on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @10:12AM (#20274354)
Chiming in as someone who works at an insurer in clinical analytics.

There's a few ways we can pay less for a compound where there are generics/biosimilars. We could contract with a hospital group saying we will pay a small % markup on the cheapest drug to treat each condition - i.e. they can use the cheapest generic/biosimilar and make profit, or use a more expensive one and make a loss. They naturally shift all volume to the cheaper one. That then makes demand very elastic to price, and so encourages a lower price from manufacturers. We do see some compounds all sit at the same lowest price and not shift - that does suggest collusion - potentially tacit collusion though. An alternative is to contract with one pharma company to get a rebate if we push volume to their drug. We could then mandate to providers that we'll only pay for that drug.

Re:The insulin racket: why a drug made free 100 years ago is... by cheerlessbog on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @11:17AM (#20275086)
So why not do this? Seems low risk, and these drugs are regulated to be identical. Plus you aren't the govt - you are allowed to pick winners.
Re:The insulin racket: why a drug made free 100 years ago is... by ihodes on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @11:57AM (#20275485)
They do that, or contract with companies (like PBMs) to do so. That's been the way this works forever. Asymptotically no one pays the ~$40k+/mo list price.
Re:The insulin racket: why a drug made free 100 years ago is... by IX-103 on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @12:18PM (#20275733)
You mean no one that has insurance pays that price. Those without insurance don't have anyone making these agreements and are SOL.
Re:The insulin racket: why a drug made free 100 years ago is... by Fjolsvith on Tuesday June 25, 2019 @09:45PM (#20281157)
Not necessarily true. I know a diabetic who gets her insulin for free through hardship programs she qualifies for with the drug manufacturers.
Re:The insulin racket: why a drug made free 100 years ago is... by qes on Thursday June 27, 2019 @10:09PM (#20300902)
You just have to live in poverty, one way or the other.