I wonder if we could turn this around a bit by making pharmaceuticals cheaper. Not to drug the masses rather that much of modern pharmaceuticals are made by automation today, however generally one type per 'line' in the factory. What I'm wondering is if you could make a factory which could make what ever drugs you currently need, whether it is from aspirin to antibiotics to chemotherapy drugs. No spoilage from drugs being on the shelf too long, local (so fast) delivery, an excellent aid to resilience from disaster (shorter logistics nightmares).
The cost of pharmaceuticals isn't necessarily in manufacturing. If you spent ten billion dollars to get a new drug to market the cost of making the pills might very well be a rounding error.
You have to pay for that. How do you do it? You can't give away the product. And, not only do you have to recoup your ten billion investment but you need money for new product development and the certainty of supporting a constant flow of lawsuits and legal work that comes with the territory.
Making drugs in the US is incredibly expensive. Scratch that, doing almost anything in the Medical industry is incredibly expensive. Not only do you have to want to innovate and fund the R&D, you have to, from day one, get ready for lawsuits and build-up a war chest. That's a shitty position to be in.
The best thing government could do in order to reduce our medical costs is to enact sensible and fair tort reform. That, right there, would have a huge impact on the cost of medicine at all levels.
Oh those poor lords of capital, somehow found themselves wound up being in the "shitty position" of choosing to start and run a company above board. Lets just systematically remove protections for the individual to make it easier for them.
I hope everyone sees right through your ideological push.
I truly don't understand your response. There is no ideology here, just math. Yeah, the it is a shitty business in that costs are ridiculous. It is in all of our interests to understand this and try to provide a better operating environment.
No, this does not mean throwing all regulations out the window and letting companies put out unsafe product.
There's a huge continuum between the scenario you envision someone like me "pushing" for and our current reality (which is getting worst every year). Somewhere in there there's a better place where drug company costs are reduced, approvals don't cost so much, frivolous lawsuits are reduced and the regulatory framework achieves a good balance between promoting R&D and serving the common good.
You are stuck on "they are all evil", which simply does not align with reality.
I am astounded at how illiterate our population is about even the most basic aspects of business. We give our school system our kids for, what, 13 years or so and they come out without any real skills to hold a job, start a business or even understand finances. This is truly terrible.
