The claim about who subsidizes who was always hyperbole, I'll grant you that. I included the statement to make the point that this is the phenomenon people are referring to when they make that statement.

I happen to think there is validity to the statement if you control for other actuarial factors. But if you don't think that makes sense as a lens through which to look at the problem, I won't quibble, even though I disagree. We're also only talking about drug prices here, which is a small portion of overall healthcare spending.

In any case, the central point, that insurers benefit from higher prices, still stands.