XPost: alt.politics.liberalism, alt.politics.economics, misc.survivalism   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: cpeterson@4ax.com   
      
   The idea of bringing down U.S. drug prices is universally   
   popular. The hard choices, trade-offs and political fortitude   
   needed to actually do it, however, are a harder sell. So here we   
   are, with a drug-pricing plan so toothless that biotech shares   
   soared as it was unveiled by President Donald Trump on Friday   
   afternoon.   
      
   You Talking to Me?   
   Biotech stocks soared Friday as it became clear that President   
   Trump's drug pricing plan was no real threat   
      
   No one likes the thought of life-saving medicines with price   
   tags of tens of thousands of dollars or more. But the fact is,   
   Americans have come to expect unfettered access to an ever-   
   expanding roster of effective medicines, without having to pay a   
   lot for it. The current system enables this through generous tax-   
   exempt employer health coverage, Medicare, and programs from   
   drugmakers that help with out-of-pocket expenses.   
      
   To mess with that extremely expensive expectation is to play   
   with fire. But the reality is that effective drug-pricing   
   interventions tend to involve politically unpopular sacrifice.   
   So instead we get watered-down policy that doesn’t ask too much   
   of us or the system.   
      
   Consensus   
   High drug prices are pretty much universally seen as a problem   
   by the electorate   
      
   President Trump’s drug-pricing plan is a perfect example. He   
   called it “the most sweeping action in history on drug prices,”   
   and that may be true, but if so, that’s not a good thing — it’s   
   an indictment of past inaction. Either way, there is little in   
   his plan that is likely to be make a big difference in the near   
   term.   
      
   Some of Trump’s initiatives will be only mildly impactful, like   
   changes to the Medicare Part D drug benefit that might slightly   
   lower costs to the government and seniors. Other proposals are   
   vague and may never be pursued, like changes to the drug-rebate   
   system. Still others are nonsensical political theater, like the   
   notion that other countries can be compelled to raise drug   
   prices, and that this will somehow lower U.S. prices.   
      
   The few immediate  actions outlined in the plan — like ending a   
   rule that makes it hard for pharmacists to steer patients to   
   lower-priced options and forcing drugmakers to include the list   
   price of drugs in advertisements — will be visible in a campaign   
   year and allow the administration to claim it is taking action.   
   But they won’t actually stop soaring drug spending.   
      
   The Problem   
   Drug spending is growing at a possibly unsustainable rate in the   
   U.S.   
      
   Trump’s plan could have had more teeth if he followed through on   
   a policy he once endorsed, and has been criticized for not   
   pursuing: allowing Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices.   
   But here again is another example where trade-offs would be   
   required. Nine out of 10 Americans are in favor of giving the   
   government the power to negotiate, according to a Kaiser poll.   
   But that number would drop precipitously if they knew what the   
   government would have to do in order to make the policy   
   effective.   
      
   To gain any leverage with drugmakers, the government would need   
   to be able to refuse Medicare coverage of certain medications   
   because they are too expensive, and firmly steer patients to   
   cheaper treatments. That is, the more restrictive the government   
   is allowed to be, the bigger the potential impact on prices. But   
   enacting such restrictions would be enormously unpopular. It’s   
   one thing when it’s a private company making you jump through   
   hoops, it’s another entirely when Uncle Sam is telling your   
   grandmother she can’t have a potentially lifesaving medicine.   
      
   An extremely mild version of this policy — requiring people to   
   pay a higher portion of a drug’s cost if they pick a more   
   expensive option over a cheaper alternative — got only 51   
   percent approval in a Kaiser poll, which kind of says it all.   
      
   Americans’ expectations and political reality are far from the   
   only problems. At the end of the day, it’s drugmakers that take   
   advantage of the country’s fragmented system and lax regulation   
   to set extremely high prices. But until politicians — and let’s   
   face it, their constituents — are willing to acknowledge and   
   grapple with these trade-offs, drug pricing rhetoric will   
   continue to be fiery, but policy will be milquetoast.   
      
   https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-13/trump-drug-   
   plan-shows-why-high-prices-persist   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)