How Government-Run Healthcare Screws the People

[Teflor Lyorian]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WomensHeal ... d=13104588

That's right. Thanks to your Federal government, a potentially life-saving drug critical to pregnancy care that used to cost $10 a dose is now $1,500.

I call this the Obamacare Preview.

[kiryan]

government regulation at its best. Artificial constraints on supply and demand, especially legislated ones, = bad for the consumer.

[kiryan]

More of those unintended consequences.

Aetna Inc. (AET) is suing six New Jersey doctors over medical bills it calls “unconscionable,” including $56,980 for a bedside consultation and $59,490 for an ultrasound that typically costs $74.
...
Aetna tried in 2007 to impose caps on some out-of-network payments, prompting doctor complaints to the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. The agency sided with the doctors, fined the company $2.5 million, and ordered it to pay out-of-network practitioners enough so that patients wouldn’t be asked to pay balances other than co-pays.

== how much do you think Aetna would've paid without the government getting all up in its business? The more rules you have the further the rule makers are from the actual work, the more rules and delays and overhead you need. In what kind of a system can an insurer be forced to pay RIDICULOUS sums of money solely because a doctor decided thats what he would charge today or to this company.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-2 ... ctors.html

[Ragorn]

Big business fucking the middle class. Republican economics at its finest. Maybe that wealth will "trickle down" and "create jobs." Maybe what they need is a tax break to stimulate revenue.

[kiryan]

bullshit this is government intervention and regulation and its unintended consequences at its best.

Aetna is paying whatever they charge for fear of running afoul of government.

[Ragorn]

On the contrary, they're fruitfully exploiting their monopoly, and are a perfect example of why anti-trust legislation is necessary.

Government saving the middle class from the corporations.

[Teflor Lyorian]

On the contrary, they're fruitfully exploiting their monopoly, and are a perfect example of why anti-trust legislation is necessary.

Government saving the middle class from the corporations.

A monopoly created by government legislation.

Why are you running in smaller, tighter circles?

[kiryan]

Well it appears that the system may work after all. The FDA doesn't "intend" to take enforcement actions "at this time".

and since I can't say anything good without at least one zinger. Thats a rock solid regulatory environment you should be confident you can take to the bank!


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162- ... 91704.html

Last month, the drug's maker, KV Pharmaceuticals, warned pharmacies to stop making the cheaper version or they could face FDA enforcement. But the FDA said Wednesday that the pharmacies can continue making the cheaper version.

"In order to support access to this important drug, at this time and under this unique situation, FDA does not intend to take enforcement action" against pharmacies that compound the drug, the agency said in a written statement.

[Teflor Lyorian]

Definitely reminds me of your "government picking the winners and losers" thread.

[kiryan]

which moves power away from capitalists and entrepreneurs to the politicians and bueracrats.

[kiryan]

KV dropping their asking price by about 50%. Still not really sure this is the way that things should work... you should'nt have a company able to take a $20 drug and charge $1500 in a monopolistic fashion... you shouldn't have a government agency setting rules it will selectively enforce.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WomensHeal ... d=13274910

KV cut the price of a dose of Makena, its branded version of a progesterone shot that previously sold for $20 a pop, from $1,500 per dose to $690.

Following the public outcry over KV's pricing, however, the FDA announced Wednesday that it had no intention of enforcing its own rules

The FDA granted KV approval to produce this already-in-use drug in February, a move many maternity experts hoped would offer a more regulated and readily available version of the shot.

Even if doctors continue to use compounding pharmacies to get 17-P for their patients, Medicaid and health insurance providers will have to contend with the high price of Makena

[Teflor Lyorian]

I wonder if they shouldn't make it more like the rest of patent law: where others can license the technology/patent for reasonable fees.

Patent protections are not purely to protect the inventor/patentor, but also to make their innovations _available_ to the public.