"Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billion"

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"Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billion&q... - 4/5/2007 2:24:37 AM

Vendaval

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"Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billion"

By Susan Heavey
Wed Apr 4, 5:39 PM ET

" WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government could save nearly $30 billion a year if it negotiates with drugmakers over prices for its Medicare prescription drug coverage, according to a report released on Wednesday. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070404/hl_nm/congress_medicare_dc;_ylt=AjjVW2pJpDPmixVrWmvIM5rVJRIF

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RE: "Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billi... - 4/5/2007 2:34:30 AM

MsCfromMelbourne

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Every Western country except the US already buys drugs via Government purchasing direct from Big Pharma. The collective bargaining power of Government gets a better deal for taxpayers and cuts out the profits of all the middle men (HMOs, buying groups etc)

American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for their medicine. Big Pharma argues that it has to continue to charge Amercans much more than, say, Europeans and Australians to cover the cost of their R & D.

If I was a US citizen I would be asking: whose dumb ass idea was it to make America cross subsidise the pharmaceutical prices paid by other countries? Even countries with higher incomes per capita like The Netherlands. How is that fair?

I would argue that another reason medicine is so much more expensive for patients in the US (double in my experience) is that the global drug companies are loading their US prices to cover the cost of direct to consumer marketing in that country. Such marketing is prohibited here.

< Message edited by MsCfromMelbourne -- 4/5/2007 2:41:53 AM >

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RE: "Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billi... - 4/5/2007 3:10:13 AM

LadyEllen

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Our National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE, in the Orwellian) has said the same thing about pharmaceutical purchasing in the UK National Health Service. We could save millions if not billions by better purchasing.

But then, every public body I ever came across was ever the same - there is no need to negotiate with suppliers, when there is no commercial impetus to reduce costs, and someone else is supplying the money. Thats not a call to or a reason to commercialise health services over here - most could never afford it, but rather a call to and reason to examine what is going on with all this and to make it a more efficient process. After all, the suppliers are commercial companies even if the purchaser is not, and applying the market forces which our country is so fond of, the purchaser in this case is a vital account with excellent credit rating which one would normally expect to result in a very good deal indeed.

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RE: "Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billi... - 4/5/2007 12:17:56 PM

popeye1250

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I agree.
The "problem" with that though is that the govt. would just "spend" that money somewhere else like more foreign aid or whatever.
The People need to have a LOT more say in how our govt does *our* business!

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RE: "Drug bargaining could save Medicare $30 billi... - 4/5/2007 2:28:45 PM

wfsubseeking1

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Pharmaceutical companies spend a great deal on lobbyists which ensure they can continue to charge the exorbinant fees they do on drugs.

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