Expensive Medications Are a Bargain

choi

Charles L Hooper and David R Henderson, Expensive Medications Are a Bargain. The Inflation Reduction Act gives the government the ability to 'negotiate' drug prices. People will die. Wall Street Journal, Sept 14, 2022, at page A19 (which is op-ed).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/exp ... atments-11663080540

first two paragraphs:

"The Inflation Reduction Act has eight provisions intended to reduce future drug prices. Some observers were surely pleased that Congress gave the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services new powers to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies. They shouldn’t have been. The Inflation Reduction Act won't noticeably reduce inflation and it will do little or nothing to lower the cost of healthcare. Forcing drug companies to charge lower prices will likely lead to fewer new drugs.

"Virtually no products are more valuable than the modern medicines produced by the biopharmaceutical industry. They cure diseases and extend lives. We’ve all heard that Americans pay higher drug prices than people in other countries. That’s true, but only when comparing retail prices of brand-name drugs. Very few Americans pay retail prices; most pay a fraction—a copay dictated by their insurance plan. Most country-to-country comparisons also leave out generics. Nine of 10 prescriptions in the US are filled with generic drugs priced lower than in most other countries.

Note:
(a) President Biden signed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Aug 16, 2022.
(b) I bring paragraph 2 to your attention; there is no need to read the rest. A drug patent lasts twenty years, after which generics may come out.
(c) At the end of this op-ed is introduction: "Mr Hooper is president of Objective Insights, a life-science consultancy, and author of "Should the FDA Reject Itself?"  Mr Henderson is a research fellow with Stanford University's Hoover Institution and was senior health economist with President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisors.  
(d) In America, the uninsured and foreigners coming here for treatment are charged with the full retail price of diagnosis and treatment.