I suspect with nothing but intuition this originated with the brass and not the WH.
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A cynic might wonder why they arenât negotiating for all drugs.
https://x.com/moetkacik/status/1696895960348053507?s=46&t=XGja5BtSraUljl_WWUrIUg
Yeah they should be negotiating for all drug prices, 10 is a joke. I do think that pharma companies deserve to recoup R&D costs with higher prices for a period of time, but there needs to be some regulation on this obviously. The model where they charge whatever they want is a joke.
You hear all kinds of free market arguments from them, but they never mention the part where the buy side isnât a free market. The insurance companies have to cover the treatment and the costs arenât directly apparent to the consumer, who is not in a position to negotiate a fair market price while suffering from a medical problem.
my student loan payment went down $50, thanks biden!
How do you regulate the pharma industry and not get rid of incentives for pharma companies to do research into new drugs? Granted, right now the only incentive for new drugs are better boner pills or more addictive pain pills. Itâs a tough line to walk where we allow pharma to make money but not so much money olds and poors canât afford their meds.
My idea would be some sort of rolling cap on profit margins, with allowance for years below the cap to roll forward. Youâd have to enforce it by basically clawing back profits over the margin, and youâd have to regulate executive pay and such too to avoid gaming the system. It would be pretty complex, but thatâs the best idea that immediately comes to mind.
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That was essentially what I was thinking to, but I donât think we have the political will at the moment to start regulating profit margins and we certainly donât have it to start messing with corporate officer pay. Although Iâd love to have a limit of what the CEO makes based on a simple multiple of what the lowest paid employee makesâŚ
Nationalize the whole thing (pharma).
There are plenty of people out there who would love to work on something that could save lives or improve health. Just pay a âdecentâ middle-class wage, with good benefits, and youâd be able to staff up nicely.
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Oh and let me add that the money clawed back should be pumped into subsidizing or socializing health insurance.
But yeah, no chance thereâs the political will for any of that right now. People are brainwashed. As a Moderna shareholder I will say a lot of the vitriol against them was pretty ridiculous in hindsight. They obviously got quite a windfall from their vaccines, and they benefitted from some government funding on that, but theyâre forecast to lose money this year because vaccination rates are going to be much lower. Meanwhile, a big chunk of the money they made off the vaccine is being plowed into getting an RSV vaccine to the market, getting an improved flu shot to the market that can be combined into one jab with RSV and covid, continuing trials for a CMV vaccine, and a bunch of cancer research thatâs very promising. Given the upside of mRNA technology, thereâs at least an argument to be made that their windfall is going to end up benefitting society greatly.
Thatâs why I think some sort of long-term profit margin cap makes the most sense. You want the research to be incentivized and rewarded, you just want that to happen within reasonable margins.
Wouldnât even need to control wages overall that much I donât think. Like probably could easily give multiple million dollar+ bonuses to hundreds of people on any team that develops/brings to market a new drug and still would be cheaper than compensating the share holders
Gotta say, âjust nationalize itâ seems like a really bad idea. Lots of other countries out there have thriving Pharma industries, maybe letâs try something theyâre doing instead of that
Is kinda a bizarre system though where so much of the most basic research/development related to pharma is already nationalized via NIH/universities so is kinda interesting question where to draw the line between what we already have nationalized vs what parts of it are private
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If only that were true.
Boomer Dems: why isnât Bidenomics resonating
Because your new base of young educated people is fucking crushed by housing and child care costs and you never even pay lip service to the largest generation in the countryâs actual problems, you octogenarian fucks
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Donât forget weâre also celebrating federal loan reinstatement day this month!! I now get to pay $900+/month when I had been payong $500/month for the past 3.5 years. That extra money going out will definitely help me with rising costs of living and the absurd housing prices. Woohoo Bidenomics!
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This shit right here is why if the GOP ran pretty much anyone else but Trump they would certainly winâŚbut somehow it is another Trump election cycle
Nah the rest of the party is hollowed out. The talent they have in the hopper looks like more mtg types.
Iâm very bullish on Kemp in a general election, heâs what they wanted DeSantis to be. But he canât get through a primary.
And bidenomics is working for fucking Republicans. Boomers cleaning up on housing and stonks, plus rural getting all the infrastructure money. While doing Jack shit for the young people that elected him.
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