shevan

Big Pharma Concession

Posted on 10/27/09, 02:30 am

There's is still a lot in the bill which is very troubling. There is the concession to Pharma, which means we cannot negotiate for lower prices because of economies of scale that the government has.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff...

This is about the Health Care bill and is in Huffpo tonight. I, for one, would like to know exactly what she means by "...we cannot negotitiate for lower prices because of ECONOMIES OF SCALE that the government has. WTF? I don't even know what "economies of scale" means!! Do you?

• Reply #1 10/27/09  5:58am
  
  nnyl1
  I think thats the deal President Obama made to the pharmacist lobbiest. I guess my gut is a little tight about the reform with a public option. Roe vs Wade was made by the courts. It would never have made it by law. I go with Ted Kennedy's sage advice. You don't get everything you just get closer. I'll let the drug nogotiations go and get a national option. I really hope that turns out to be the "Trojan HORSE", republicans predict.
• Reply #2 10/27/09  2:36pm
  
  shevan
  Yes I know, it's the deal Obama made with Big Pharma. What I am asking in this thread, is what does "economies of scale" mean - because that's their excuse. Don't understand why you would want a Trojan Horse - that is a negative thing.
• Reply #3 10/27/09  5:51pm
  
  nnyl1
  Economies of scale means in production, it costs less to produce if you produce a lot. Similar to 3 people eat cheaper(as a family) then 3 individual people alone. In negotiations you can negotiate a cheaper unit cost if you by negotiate a lot.
  
  My view of letting drug reform go as insurance reform done, was best expressed by live2win who agrees, focus on one reform at a time. She said it so cool...Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war.
  
  livetowin, out of the blue sent me a description of economy of scale, in case I didn't know. I couldn't figure out why she did that? I was more concerned about not pursuing drug price reform while trying to reform the insurance industry,,,this is what she wrote. Her stepmom is an economist, so she grew up with all those terms.
  
  What this theory is is that basically, the cost of goods go down as the production goes up because the first one of anything is the most expensive to produce. So if there was more purchasing in large quantities, the price per unit would fall, and the government would hold the Pharma to that price reduction that would result due to reduced production costs.
  
  
  
• Reply #4 10/27/09  6:01pm
  
  nnyl1
  A Trojan horse in computers is a virus that is attached to something else, enters you computer when you download that something else, and causes havoc in your computer.
  
  The republicans believe ta a single payor health care system would cause havoc to our economy and place the democrats in power for a long time..
  
  They view a public option as a trojan horse. It would be allowed in for a very small percentage of the population, with a state opt out option...but it would end up being the Trojan horse that brings a single payor system into the US gov. That's why they fight a public option so fiercely. They believe its a single payor system way to get their foot in the door or A public Option becomes the Trojan Horse for a single payor system.
  
  Like Trojan Horses work to bring a virus into your computer. The virus was attached top something you downloaded. Something was the Trojan Horse and something was the virus.
  
  I sure do hope a public option is the Trojan horse for a single payor "virus"
• Reply #5 10/27/09  9:26pm
  
  shevan
  Well, thank you Lynn! Economies of scale makes sense now, and I understand it now, in the sense of big Pharma and the freedom to negotiate factor. They want to keep on gouging and gouging us on prescription drugs and keep raking in their obscene profits while people who can't afford them suffer and die and our whole healthcare system breaks down completely and bankrupts the country. I also know why live2 sent that, but you will just have to put 2 and 2 together.
  
  I read in Newsweek that Obama caved to big Pharma last summer because he had to lose a battle to win a war - he wanted Health insurance reform, and caving to Pharma at that time let it go forward, and the bill did get momentum!! We are getting a Health Care Bill!! I also know what a Trojan horse is, but didn't understand your sentence about the Trojan horse because it was vague. I know now - and they're right - a public option, once allowed, would eventually become wildly popular and drive those price gouging, greedy, death- allowing insurance companies out of business! They see it as a virus, and it is!! That's why they're terrified of letting it in!! What a beautiful thing that would be! Why can't America embrace a system that the rest of the industrialized nations have had for years, with a healthier population to show for it? For less money??
  
  I sure hope we get that Trojan horse too, Lynn...! We shall see...!

This is a group that discusses the issues of the day from the progressive point of view. Debates are encouraged, but opinions based on ignorance, as I see fit, will be deleted, as well as people who spew them. This is a group where intellectualism is not looked down upon. So, be informed!