Re:US expects billions in savings from first Medicare drug p...
by oicu812 on Thursday August 15, 2024 @01:07PM
(#41258181)
Billions of "savings" for Medicare, but the costs will be passed on to private health insurance by paying higher prices to make up for the "savings" that were given to Medicare.
Re:US expects billions in savings from first Medicare drug p...
by 0x5f3759df-i on Thursday August 15, 2024 @01:44PM
(#41258566)
Drug prices aren’t a zero sum game.
Drugs and software are very similar economically, high upfront cost and then almost zero marginal cost afterwards.
The prices private insurance pays will not be impacted because there are is not some huge margin that needs to be made up and insurance companies also negotiate prices.
Letting pharmaceutical companies extract unlimited tax dollars from Medicare is an insane idea.
Re:US expects billions in savings from first Medicare drug p...
by pcurve on Thursday August 15, 2024 @02:47PM
(#41259167)
"almost zero marginal cost afterwards"
My father is a retired pharma exec in charge of driving down cost by setting up plants overseas.
He once told me: "For some drugs, ingredient costs less than flour at grocery store"
The stories he tells me about having to bribe local officials (as well as everyone in the supply chain) China and India are hilarious. That was 20 years ago. Not sure if it is better or worse now.
https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-negotiated-pri...
Drugs and software are very similar economically, high upfront cost and then almost zero marginal cost afterwards.
The prices private insurance pays will not be impacted because there are is not some huge margin that needs to be made up and insurance companies also negotiate prices.
Letting pharmaceutical companies extract unlimited tax dollars from Medicare is an insane idea.
My father is a retired pharma exec in charge of driving down cost by setting up plants overseas.
He once told me: "For some drugs, ingredient costs less than flour at grocery store"
The stories he tells me about having to bribe local officials (as well as everyone in the supply chain) China and India are hilarious. That was 20 years ago. Not sure if it is better or worse now.