Sheesh, I knew he came from a family of pinkos but this is really too much. Other than corporate welfare for those least in need, it makes zero sense why the GOP and too many Democrats are so against negotiating drug prices. Negotiating quantity discounts is a basic part of the capitalist way, but they act as though it's dangerous. It's dangerous for consumers who are stuck funding the freeloading Big Pharma industry and that's about it.
Big Pharma always inflates their R&D numbers and they fail to admit that their problem is failing for decades to deliver significant new developments for patients. They dump a lot of R&D money into minor improvements and then expect everyone to accept the costs on those drugs and then help prop up the rest of the balance sheet with the bloated costs. Fortunately there are plenty in Washington who are only all too willing to play the game while slamming consumers.
Whose side is Rick Santorum on here? It's obviously not the side of benefiting consumers and regular voters. Santorum deserves criticism, but so does most of Washington, including the clowns that kept price negotiations out of Obama Care.
"People have no problem going out and buying an iPad for $900. But paying $200 for a drug they have a problem with -- that keeps you alive. Why? Because you've been conditioned in thinking health care is something you should get and not have to pay for. Drug companies, health care companies need to have a profitability, because if they don't, then how are we going to regulate costs? We're going to ration care," said Santorum. "And you may be someone who gets that care, but this little boy, because of his condition, or because of his life expectancy may not. Why? Because it's not cost effective." While some of in the audience applauded Santorum's tough stance against government involvement in drug prices, others protested. The mother of the child yelled out that she was going bankrupt just to pay for her child to keep breathing. It wasn't clear what the boy's condition was. "I hear these and sympathize with these very passionate cases," Santorum responded to the mother. "Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs. But the bottom line is, we have companies with the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don't have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won't be alive and lots of other people in this country won't be alive. We either believe in markets or we don't."Soooo, how many iPads do families purchase each month? And again, Santorum is repeating the lie - courtesy of Big Pharma - that there will be no incentive for drug companies if they can't screw consumers. Someone needs to ask Santorum or anyone else in Washington why Europe negotiates and the US doesn't. Quite a few of the Big Pharma companies (Bayer, Novartis, GSK, Sanofi, Roche) are based in Europe and are doing fine. In fact, they love doing business in the US where they know they can charge about double the prices compared to Europe.
