Post

I'mTheProblemIt'sMe
@spin4srv.bsky.social

What's weird is that we have laws against price gouging during storms etc but pretend it's ok during 'non emergencies'. For most people obtaining medical care and medication _is_ an emergency at least as much as natural disasters.

Uniqueseed
@uniqueseed.bsky.social

But does your analysis include the cost of R&D to develop the end product? There are costs associated with R&D that have to be recouped in order to continue more R&D for other chronic health issues. I know it seems excessive, and I feel that after some time it should come down.

PinkTweets
@pinktweets.bsky.social

Who the hell is buying it at those prices? You would think that the law of supply and demand would have brought the prices down by now. For us, the problem is traveling. Our insurer covers it but only if you have a positive covid test and an Rx. How do we get that in rural developing countries?

Jeffrey Quackenbush
@jeffreyquackenbush.bsky.social

It would be helpful if pharmaceutical companies were more transparent on the R&D costs involved in these drugs and how they approach cost recovery once they have a successful drug. Because this markup could be bullshit, or it could reflect the financial reality of R&D.

I Love Dachshunds.
@cefp.bsky.social

I think you can get paxlovid for almost nothing or for nothing with the manufacturers coupon. I’m not sure if this is still ongoing. People should check. This doesn’t take away from the fact that medicine that costs $15 to make should cost $1500, but may help people get it for free.

Mary Ann Frank
@maryannfrank.bsky.social

I live in Canada, I was prescribed a glucose monitor with all the necessary items to check my blood glucose levels. I paid zero dollars and zero cents. Having health issues shouldn't break your bank.

Solid Gold Robot
@solidgoldrobot.bsky.social

I don't want to be jumped on for defending pharma companies, but I feel like we need to acknowledge that Pfizer spent around $10 billion every year on research, and that research eventually leads to drugs like Paxlovid. There's more to making it than just manufacturing the pill at the end.

Solid Gold Robot
@solidgoldrobot.bsky.social

Not really. When it comes to pharmaceuticals, the best majority of expense comes later during the drug creation process, and that's undertaken by the pharma companies. Don't get me wrong, they aren't saints, but they do spend a ton of money creating this stuff, because it will make them more.

Marty
@marty10.bsky.social

Biden negotiated with Pharma to lower costs for 10 expensive drugs last year. 10 more supposed to be in effect this year. But that was before Trump who has also taken credit for Biden’s Chips jobs in Red States.

1truthwhisperer.bsky.social
@1truthwhisperer.bsky.social

There are more lobbyists roaming the halls of Congress connected to the very lucrative private for-profit medicine-industrial- complex and all its tentacles than any other industry. That's why the US is the only developed nation in the world without a universal healthcare system for ALL its people

av8trix.bsky.social
@av8trix.bsky.social

It's £829 to UK pharmacies. However, if your doctor gives you a prescription for it it will cost the end user the prescription charge only. That is £9.90. But you do have to convince the doctor that you need the drug.

hoseyg62.bsky.social
@hoseyg62.bsky.social

Wasn’t it Reagan who made the private insurer rich? Probably a buddy who leaned in and suggested they could streamline the system (sound familiar?) while providing considerable contributions to RR.. ..capitalism, political influence, greed, easily bought politicians.. ..bad combo for Americans..

Artless Dodger
@thegreatduggo.bsky.social

And these idiots say things like "I love my health insurance" and then spend an hour on the phone querying a charge or arguing about service denial. What they really mean is "I have insurance and you don't and that makes me happy"

MsLupine
@mslupine.bsky.social

In this case, isnt the pharmaceautical company where the upcharge is? The supppsed value of private insurance is to have everyone pay into a system at the same rate so that you are contributing when you are healthy and are supported when you arent. Whether it actually works is different matter.

Bullix
@bullix.bsky.social

You’re right but not about why. Relying on for profit corporations to responsibly police their own greed is a fool’s errand. The GOVERNMENT needs to be rebuilt and reoriented to serving the PEOPLE before the corporate sector. This happens because the govt is not allowed to cap prices by GQP

Bullix
@bullix.bsky.social

Those other countries simply will not permit them to mark things like an EpiPen up by 1500% the way Joe Manchin’s shit weasel of a daughter did while that sack of shit was still sabotaging Obama and Biden. The US government has been in a deregulation mania for 45 years, to all of our detriment.

Catherine's Nook📚🇨🇦
@catherinesnook.bsky.social

Thanks, but I'm only repeating what Jon Stewart called him on The Daily Show. He was relating the pictures and story about that imitation crown from South Korean President and that they served small meat patties with ketchup since they likely figured he wouldn't eat the salad! 😂

ChefJohn
@chefjohnwoods.bsky.social

I caught a nasty case of Covid last winter,, the Paxlovid was right at $600.00 and I have insurance, and there is no generic. If one of my friends wouldn’t have bought it for me I would have definitely done without it, and at 63 with some pretty serious breathing issues already, I don’t know

Rob Williams
@codeslubber.bsky.social

Are you a marxist? how much something costs to make is not just labor and parts. They spent a fortune on R&D of course. CPUs sell for more than the cost of the materials and the time to stamp them in the machine.

Bob Gann
@begann.bsky.social

Oh, please. Billionaires can easily afford that. They are the only ones that matter, right? RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES, then. Surely, no one will hold it against them.

TheresaKL
@theresareloveution.bsky.social

Do #MAGA realize… “It's important to understand that to build an oligarchy, Trump has to destroy both Democracy & Capitalism (as we know it). Rising prices & shrinking markets (amongst other things) aren’t byproducts of Tariffs, they're the goals.” ~ Anchor Light Pub substack.com/@anchorlight...

substack.comAnchor Light Publications (@anchorlightpublications)It's important to understand that to build an oligarchy, Trump has to destroy both Democracy and Capitalism (as we know it). Rising prices and shrinking markets (amongst other things) are not byprodu...
joelcawley.bsky.social
@joelcawley.bsky.social

Unfortunately, that insane result is the guaranteed outcome arising from our ignorant ideological insistence on using market forces to set prices in a segment with zero price elasticity. *Markets* are the dominant direct cause of our excess healthcare costs. Details in my book, The Fifth Paradigm.

Richard Switzer
@rswitz.bsky.social

Was able to get Paxlovid at no cost in Dec 2023, covered by the Ontario government. The difference compared to a previous bout of Covid was dramatic, I was back to about 90% within 24 hours. Six months later the same pharmacist told me a prescription would be $1600. globalnews.ca/news/8830433...

globalnews.caGeneric versions of Pfizer’s Paxlovid to be sold in low-income countries for $25 or less - National | Globalnews.caA generic course of molnupiravir is expected to cost about $20 in poorer nations, compared with the roughly $700 per course Merck is charging the United States.
1tonytony.bsky.social
@1tonytony.bsky.social

America's Safety Nets/Medicaid are in Peril Looming annual $2trillion interest payment on Our National Debt 👀 UareWhatUeat We could save $Trillions if we more emphasized Preventive Healthcare maintenance Chronic Inflammation is the Enemy Insulin Resistance is the Enemy Procrastination is the Enemy

Boone Daniels
@boonedaniels.bsky.social

the best part is that Pfizer’s own 2023 study showed that the risk/benefit is significantly less clear than they thought, except in at-risk unvaxxed people and if those people have kidney or liver issues, that largely goes out the window

Barb
@barble.bsky.social

When companies start basing your retirement income on your employee 401K instead of a traditional pension plan, they need to keep their stock price inflated so people will think they have money to retire. And corporate greed!!!!!!

DCNative8
@dcnative8.bsky.social

The original patent for insulin was $1. The average price per insulin unit dropped 42%, from $0.33 in 2019 to $0.19, in mid-2024. That’s the lowest average recorded in a decade. Yet middle men, monopolies...drive the cost up.

Kelley Rinehart
@kelleyrinehart.bsky.social

Yes it is. We need M4A for a lot of reasons but not least so we can effectively negotiate drug prices. We should go to a Canadian style system asap - unimproved Medicare, private insurers offer supplemental coverage, and Medicaid to remain in place to cover people who need it. Do it now!

pier14.bsky.social
@pier14.bsky.social

OMG! That is terrible. I didn't realize it was so expensive. My doctor prescribed Paxlovid when I had Covid the end of August. Fortunately Medicare and my supplement covered the entire cost. I didn't look at the "how much saved" on the receipt. Really kept me from getting as sick & quicker recovery.

presidentjefferson
@presidentjefferson.bsky.social

They will not tell us, but Covid is deff back (never really left), almost impossible to get useful info. Since Paxlovid is so astronomically priced, maybe try masking when you are indoors with strangers? NO BIG WHUP. Can make a significant difference.

MSchulz Cartoons
@mschulzcartoons.bsky.social

It’s not that simple. The average cost of bringing a drug to market is $1.3B to $2.8B. You are only citing the manufacturing cost of a unit. When a company starts with a drug $2B in the red, it needs to make that back + profit to stay in business and, you know, develop the next drug society needs.

FunkmasterP
@funkmasterp.bsky.social

"US Army Awarded Pfizer the Contract to Produce PAXLOVID, $5.29 Billion" "Under the contract, Pfizer will develop and deliver 10 million doses of the oral drug for the US government" Pfizer already made back the $ it spent developing the drug, & could continue to profit even at a lower price point.

potomacofficersclub.comTop 5 Pfizer Government ContractsPfizer has been a prime developer and distributor of medicinal relief for over 100 years. It is also a reliable contractor for different federal agencies in the United States, offering drugs and vacci...
Susan Gross
@pricklyeater.bsky.social

I had covid a couple of months ago. It cost $900. It's not insane. It's inhumane. It's dark and mean and profoundly greedy. Health care should not only be for the very wealthy. This money making medical system is profoundly sick. People making money off of our health are profoundly sick.

hotelalhamra.bsky.social
@hotelalhamra.bsky.social

It’s not insane, it’s entirely rational. For profit companies have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder profit. The insanity is a political system that does not impose a regulatory framework that prevents companies from doing this. Let’s focus on the actual source of the problem.