1245
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

“This was an unexpected victory in a long fight against an illegal cartel of three corporations who have raised their insulin prices in lockstep.”

The Biden Administration pleasantly stunned health care reform advocates Tuesday by including short-acting insulin in its list of 10 drugs for which Medicare will negotiate lower prices, power vested in the White House by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The IRA was passed in the face of one of the heftiest barrages of lobbying in congressional history, with the pharmaceutical industry spending more than $700 million over 2021 and 2022 — several times more than the second- and third-ranking industries — much of it aimed at stopping the legislation, watering it down, or undermining its implementation.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 195 points 1 year ago

They need to find a way to negotiate the price down for everyone, not just retirees. Kids need insulin.

And after that, epi pens.

[-] MicroWave@lemmy.world 130 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Here’s some good news about that with California making its own insulins:

The state-label insulins will cost no more than $30 per 10 milliliter vial, and no more than $55 for a box of five pre-filled pen cartridges — for both insured and uninsured patients. The medicines will be available nationwide, the governor's office said.

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1164572757/california-contract-cheap-insulin-calrx

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

That is really great news. Thanks!

[-] PickTheStick@ttrpg.network 17 points 1 year ago

I wish the process would be repeated by the federal government, for every similar drug that could be produced with their patent's expiration.

[-] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Where are all of the "think of the children" folk? Not important now that they're born.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

"If you're pre-born, you're fine. If you're preschool, you're fucked." -- George Carlin

Except even that isn't true, because those "choose life" assholes don't give two fucks about poor women without insurance being unable to afford pre-natal care. If your fetus dies from something preventable, fuck you lady.

[-] spamfajitas@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Don't worry, they're too busy actively using children as pawns to fuck over the Internet, labor laws and trans people.

[-] veroxii@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Children also make good target practice for guns in schools.

[-] sirboozebum@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

DARK BRANDON HAS ARRIVED

[-] evatronic@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

The problem is the government can't set the price of goods in a private contract between two non-government entities, which is what would need to happen. The various bills you see in states setting co-pay caps is about as close as we can get, and that only happens because the government CAN regulate insurance companies and the policies they offer. While that might, eventually, put pressure on the insurance companies to demand lower prices from the manufacturers, it's a long way disconnected from the price paid by the patient.

And regulating copays doesn't help people without insurance at all.

That's why this is such an important step. When prescription coverage was added to Medicare, the ability of the government to negotiate drug prices was specifically striped from the bill. The Inflation Reduction Act added it back, finally. And it's a huge win. Medicare and Medicaid are enormous programs, and when they throw their weight around, they can affect the markets they're in dramatically. It's why the drug companies are already filing suit.

But the real solution isn't trying to force private insurance companies to play ball, or make drug manufacturers sell at a low price, it's to leverage that giant market pressure and expand Medicare eligibility to everyone. And if you're worried about funding? Don't be. Unlike social security, Medicare's tax has no maximum wage.

[-] uis@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

government can't set the price of goods in a private contract between two non-government entities

What about IRS? I mean they should report taxes. So if they refuse money they report they are getting paid, then it is low-hanging tax fraud. Probably. At least in Europe it would be.

[-] Naura@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yup. Everything i hear about health care cost is leverage. I’m glad to see this.

this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
1245 points (99.6% liked)

News

23266 readers
3555 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS