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A comment on U.S. to set up plan aimed at allowing prescription drugs from Canada. Parent comment

Re:U.S. to set up plan aimed at allowing prescription drugs ... by emiliobumachar on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @01:39PM (#20576496)
That sounded a lot like nationwide monopsony power. Compare to "Wal-Mart simply decides what TVs are worth and then tells the manufacturers. If the TV manufacturers don't like it, they can't sell them in Wal-Mart."

Perhaps United Healthcare cannot negotiate as much because it's bound by regulation, there's a large number of drugs that it cannot realistically stop covering, and the drug companies know it?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:U.S. to set up plan aimed at allowing prescription drugs ... by refurb on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @02:22PM (#20576869)
Monopsony is “one buyer”. The group doing the price regulation in Canada isn’t buying anything.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:U.S. to set up plan aimed at allowing prescription drugs ... by emiliobumachar on Wednesday July 31, 2019 @04:03PM (#20577878)
On practical terms, they are acting as a monopsony. They are negotiating with the manufacturers. If the price they set is too low, the manufacturers will indeed stop selling in Canada.
[ Parent | on HN ]