Comment on If you receive a high medical bill, don't pay it immediately. Ask for an itemized bill first.
Abundance114@lemmy.world 1 week agoHigh prices are due to government regulation.
The consumer is saved by the government from problems caused by government regulation.
The consumer thanks for government for saving them from the problem the government created.
Flauschige_Lemmata@lemmy.world 5 days ago
High prices are due to a lack of government regulations.
Pharma companies can set the prices according to what people are willing to pay. And people are willing to pay everything if it will save their lifes.
Abundance114@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Pharma companies can set the prices to whatever they want because they have government protected monopolies over their products.
Flauschige_Lemmata@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I thought generics were handled relatively similarly in the EU and the US, but apparently the US does grant a bunch of exclusivities, on top of patents.
However the biggest difference between those health systems still seems to be how providers bargain for lower prices.
In the US, insurances bargain for rebates. That means that if you buy a drug with insurance the insurance only pays a small percentage of the drug price. They are still allowed to demand copay on the list price. So often the insurance makes a profit in that transaction. But if you try to go around insurance you have to pay the full list price and will pay even more.
Over here, the universal healthcare providers bargain with the pharma companies to lower the list price. And with a much greater bargaining power to boot.
Abundance114@lemmy.world 5 days ago
I disagree, that would be true if they were selling televisions or something, if you don’t like the price buy a different brand; but this isn’t possible on exclusive drugs. Hospitals have zero room negotiate by shopping around on a patented medication. Their literal only trick to lower prices is by government legislation.