Re:How the Unchecked Power of Companies Is Destabilizing Gov...
by slt2021 on Wednesday October 23, 2024 @12:22PM
(#41926583)
it is a question of who is going to subsidize global pharma R&D?
same drug costs $10k in US is sold for $5k in EU and $10 in India.
The biggest question is: Why should US consumer subsidize pharma R&D so that pharma can sell it globally and hoard profits in Switzerland?
note: all pharma companies are incorporated in a way to pay de-minimus tax in US/EU/Asia via transfer pricing schemes and hoard all extra profits in Switzerland because of Swiss laws taxing licensing IP only at 15%
example:
1. Pharma, Inc sells drug for $10,000 in US
2. it licenses IP from Swiss entity and swiss entity charges it $9999 royalty
3. Pharma, Inc pays US tax on $1 of profit at 35%
4. Swiss entity records $9999 profit and pays 15% tax
so US consumer is screwed in the end.
US consumer think twice: do you want to pay $10,000 for a drug + $20,000 in insurance premium+copay when you can travel to India/Egypt/Turkey/Germany and get the same treatment for the same brand name drug for 1/10 (or 1/1000 of cost).
We need to talk about geographical arbitrage of healthcare costs more
same drug costs $10k in US is sold for $5k in EU and $10 in India.
The biggest question is: Why should US consumer subsidize pharma R&D so that pharma can sell it globally and hoard profits in Switzerland?
note: all pharma companies are incorporated in a way to pay de-minimus tax in US/EU/Asia via transfer pricing schemes and hoard all extra profits in Switzerland because of Swiss laws taxing licensing IP only at 15%
example:
so US consumer is screwed in the end.US consumer think twice: do you want to pay $10,000 for a drug + $20,000 in insurance premium+copay when you can travel to India/Egypt/Turkey/Germany and get the same treatment for the same brand name drug for 1/10 (or 1/1000 of cost).
We need to talk about geographical arbitrage of healthcare costs more