[QUOTE="leviathan91"]Pharmaceutical drugs take time to develop. Also it needs to be tested safely to avoid lawsuits and also needs to pass FDA red tape which is a hassle. Santorum had a point that the companies charge heavily. It's not because they're greedy fatcats (maybe some of them are, who knows?) but because of the same reasons I just listed. Also, it's to stay in business to make more drugs obviously.
But the comparison Santorum made was just wrong politically. I think, however, they're are a lot of factors in play to why these drugs cost so much money, wheather it might be government or corrupt business practices. Santorum should have delivered a better answer to her instead of that rediculous comparison. Even if it's true, if Santorum wants to get into office, sometimes it's just better to say things the people want him to say. Or at least something that challenges and sways their minds.
mattbbpl
The problem with something like this is it doesn't fit the typical supply/demand mold. With something like an iPad, Apple has to price it to a demand structure even if there are few viable alternatives. In that situation, people who deem the product worth the $900 (and are willing to pay for it, of course) will fork over the money while those who don't or can't will do without. In each case, their lives will go on. An increase or decrease to the price won't fundamentally change anything other than the number of people in the two groups inversely rising and falling with each other as that price point changes.With a life-saving medication, however, that mold doesn't hold true in the same way. People in the group who deem it worth it will be relatively constant, and the group of potential customers will only rise or fall based on those who can afford it. And those who can't afford it will die.
We, as a society, have (for the most part) deemed the ending of one's life due to such circumstances as unacceptable. Thus, we have things such as insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and non-refusal of emergency care despite ability to pay. Under this system, pharmaceuticals still charge exorbitant amounts while under patent protection from generic competition, but the pool of potential customers isn't significantly decreased - the costs charged to them are simply spread around to others paying premiums and taxes.
Your statement holds true. If there was more competition globally, it could force American Pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices, similar to the automotive industry when it became globalized. Ideally, it could work. It would be a gradual change but it could work. The current system needs to be reformed to reflect today's world.
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