Newsom said that the state budget he recently signed includes $100 million for California to “contract and make [its] own insulin at a cheaper price, close to at cost, and to make it available to all.”
*He said $50 million of that budget will go to the development of the low cost insulin, while the additional $50 million will go toward a California-based manufacturing facility for the drug, which Newsom claims “will provide new, high-paying jobs and a stronger supply chain.”*
That California can do this for $100 million, just shows you the level of price gouging going on.
That California can do this for $100 million, just shows you the level of price gouging going on.
Insulin in free in Nova Scotia for low income. Saves the cost of sending an expensive ambulance to pick them off the floor in the bathroom of the big mall.
As someone with a preference - philosophically - BUT as someone not owned by political philosophy I am interested to see how this works out. Without much profit motive - will it be done? Or will it go by the wayside?
If it works - - it’ll be a marvelous debate, to tell the opposition to such “Hey, it’s competition! Let the private corporations compete with the government insulin and let’s let the consumer decide”
If it doesn’t work - well - the cause of better cheaper health care will be set back again. I"m anxious to see if they can do it. It goes against some of my political instincts but I am actually hoping this works out.
I"m anxious to see if they can do it. It goes against some of my political instincts but I am actually hoping this works out.
The price of insulin is gouging, without a doubt. I have long thought the Gates Foundation (*or similar) should do this for two reasons. The first, obviously, is to get the medication into the hands of the people who need it at reasonable cost. The second would be to demonstrate to those companies engaging in this sort of practice that their business model can be destroyed in a minute.
There are lots of other examples; my own is the rescue inhaler I have to carry for asthma which costs maybe $5 to manufacture, and for which I have to pay $60 for each refill. It has been essentially the same for 40 years, no new trials, medications, or similar that I am aware of, yet the price reaches ever skyward.
The Stelara I take for Colitis - supposedly they bill my insurance company $20,000 every 6 weeks. For 2 years I didn’t enjoy paying $2,000 out of pocket each 6 weeks until I learned of an assistance program from the drugmaker - now it’s more reasonable.
However - if I couldn’t afford it - it would suck. But, I don’t consider it ‘gouging’- - they made a product. They are selling it. Yes I need it - but they aren’t in business to make my fi9nances easier.
In the meantime, college degreed progressional commanding 6 figures - heck, they are gouging and luckily union from Starbucks to Amazon might see to it that those people get huge pay cuts, and make closer to Barista money when it’s her on her feet dealing with spills and customers. All the stocks we celebrate with “blowout earnings! EBITDA!” - they might be gouging too. I don’t truly believe that - but just speaking for myself alone - I can’t deem someone selling a product they made - as gouging. If so- turn it into a public utility.
The party I feel is gouging on drugs: Countries that get discounts - while the Americans not only invent much of the good stuff, but having to pay the fat profit margins so someone in New Delhi or Denmark gets a nice deal. Let the world pay some more of the profit margin and if they don’t like it - they should boycott the drugs and see how it works out.
I won’t say more about it as it will undoubtedly be political, and I don’t want to be on Wendy’s bad side.
There is no cost of the IP in insulin because insulin was made royalty-free after it was invented.
Production cost is not very high, but the strict requirements of the distribution network add to the cost (temp requirements at all points, for example) tend to make this type of drug more expensive.
This Insulin issue…like so many things that most people would benefit from - is a result not of policy but of culture - culture purposely peddled by powers that be corporate, governmental, educational. Has little to do with economics or science.
People losing skills of critical thinking. (Internet and gadgets really drove this one home)
People not being able to do nuance - accepting they must be 100% in their own socioeconomic silo.
A people who are divided into tribes - and manipulated and distracted by their respective Muftis and Mullahs. We’re 200 years old. Give e it another 200 and we’ll resemble mountains of Afghanistan vis a vis tribalism
Point? There’s not enough common ground, not recognition of one another as equal citizens therefore, people don’t hear nor see each other. Because if you go to the pharmacy, and have two lines: Pay a poop-load for your insulin- Line #1. Pay a few bucks for insulin: Line #2. Line #2 would be crowded - and it would be black, white, green, blue, Red Hat wearing, no hat wearing, Birkenstalk wearing, all shapes and sizes and colors would be right there. Ditto on so many other issues.
An informed electorate - who was taught why their rights are important, how they got them, why they need to keep them, and how it comes with responsibility - -certainly would have democratic divisions. But it would be so much harder for corrupt interests to hurt people - and have the people APPLAUD them for it.
I just am not sure if, and how society gets back to such a place. I shudder to think what it will take.
production cost is not very high, but the strict requirements of the distribution network add to the cost (temp requirements at all points, for example) tend to make this type of drug more expensive.
There are temp requirements at all points in the supply chain for milk, and I can buy a gallon for $1.99.
There’s not enough common ground, not recognition of one another as equal citizens therefore, people don’t hear nor see each other.
I feel that America has taken individualism so far that we’ve lost the ability to think and care about society as a whole. It’s like Ayn Rand “selfishness is a virtue” (one of four pillars of Objectivism) taken to full-bore literal extremes.
(The other three pillars are atheism, reality is objective, and capitalism should be unregulated.)
The Chinese have nearly the opposite problem, caring for society to an extreme that it can hinder the individuals.
Agreed there has to be a middle ground. But extremes seem much easier for people to gravitate towards. It’s unfortunate.
That said, it’s sad that it’s necessary. Why isn’t there a multitude of companies producing insulin? Why are the few insulin producers so greedy?
What stops soft drink manufacturers from becoming greedy and jacking up prices? Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Keurig/Dr. Pepper have a combined market share of over 90%. What stops them from doing what the insulin producers have done? It would be a boon for public health if people had to cut back on their pop consumption.
The party I feel is gouging on drugs: Countries that get discounts - while the Americans not only invent much of the good stuff, but having to pay the fat profit margins so someone in New Delhi or Denmark gets a nice deal. Let the world pay some more of the profit margin and if they don’t like it - they should boycott the drugs and see how it works out.
Interesting, Insulin was invented in Canada. Perhaps instead of selling to American border hoppers at the same rate we sell to our own we should have cranked up the price?
Thanks for chiming in and there is indeed much to what you say.
Splitting a hair - individualism run amok - has become a problem IMO because so many people - who think they are individuals - actually MUST belong to a tribe. And said tribe dictates - literally - how they talk, walk, what they eat, where they live, what they drive and what they purport to believe.
Paraphrasing not at all precisely the JFK quote - something to the effect of “we all breath the same air, we all drink the same water…”.
I really hope by some divine miracle - the common ground comes again. Sure, argue over a few percent of tax rates. Argue over this or that. But geez - don’t be hoodwinked into staying in your failing urban school for a generation because the other side is evil. Don’t be tricked into being against a program that built rural health centers when your life expectancy trails other regions of the country. Sadly THAT kind of individualism is now rare - and frowned upon.
Insulin was inventedin Canada. Perhaps instead of selling to American border hoppers at the same rate we sell to our own we should have cranked up the price
Now then, a lot of non-Canadian work has gone on with insulin since the time of Banting and others’ discovery…and well before as it happens.
As is oftentimes the case, Nobel prize winners rarely leap out of bed of a morning and make a sudden discovery that no one else that thought of…and Nobel prizes don’t acknowledge the work of those who paved the way.
For sure, the price of insulin in the US is outrageous. A better solution to the disparity from country to country…have a common list price with no special negotatiated price for any given country. That way the US consumer wouldn’t be paying the prices they are…and Canadians wouldn’t have to feel miffed that others are benefitting from their good fortune.
Had a similar conversation last week with friends in England who cannot fathom how Americans can tolerate such high prices. “Be grateful they do while it lasts” was my response.
There are temp requirements at all points in the supply chain for milk, and I can buy a gallon for $1.99.
Milk tends to be locally produced (within a few hundred miles) compared to insulin and other drugs. Infant formula has the same production/distribution problem–few producers.
to those companies engaging in this sort of practice that their business model can be destroyed in a minute.
Let’s say we choose to do this for many of the high-priced big pharma products. What happens after we “destroy their business model”? Big pharma net profit margins are typically 10-15%. If their business model is “destroyed” where do you suggest that profit come from instead?