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| Re: ''Affordable'' Care Act plans bring hefty fees for certain vital drugs (1166607) | |||
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Re: ''Affordable'' Care Act plans bring hefty fees for certain vital drugs |
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Posted by Stephen Bauman on Sat Mar 22 22:40:05 2014, in response to Re: ''Affordable'' Care Act plans bring hefty fees for certain vital drugs, posted by Olog-hai on Sat Mar 22 15:04:15 2014. The tier structure, etc. predates both ACA and Obama. It's copied from Medicare Part D - a Bush program. The idea was that the insurance companies would get better prices for their customers by channelling drug choices into a single product. They would then have more volume to strike a better deal. That's how free enterprise is supposed to work.However, other countries chose a different model for dealing with drug company profits. The government bargained with the drug companies. They had even more clout than the insurance companies. The result is that American drugs selling abroad are cheaper than the negotiated rates the insurance companies got. Of course, the insurance companies could have bought the same drugs abroad. That's prohibited. They did not really want to give anyone any clout when negotiating with drug companies. In case you were wondering if the US Government could have gotten a better deal, consider the Veterans Administration. The VA negotiates with the drug companies. VA drug costs are lower than those "negotiated" by insurance companies. |
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