Yesterday's presentation by Paul Ryan contained a pie chart showing that 90% of the population (i.e., the healthy ones) are supporting 10% (i.e., the chronically sick ones)!
Duhh .... did he just learn how insurance works, or in other words, ‘Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated’ (Donald Trump). Of course, Hillary Clinton (Hillary-Care) and Barack Obama (Obama-Care) learned this years ago.
Is it really about how insurance works?
Or might it be the high cost of medical care?
Address the high cost of medical care, and the cost of medical insurance will drop....for instance, should hospitals be able to mark up a dose of aspirin 5,000%??? What about the recent price increase of Epi pens???
In 2015 Mylan had about had about $1.5B in sales of EpiPens and those sales accounted for 40% of Mylan's profit.[27] Mylan had maintained about a 90% market share since it had acquired the product, and had continually raised the price of EpiPens starting in 2009: in 2009, the wholesale price of two EpiPens was about $100; by July 2013, the price was about $265; in May 2015, it was around $461; and in May 2016, the price rose again to around $609,[26] around a 500% jump from the price in 2009.[75] The cost of the drug and device to Mylan as of 2016 was about $35
An even better example is Daraprim....
In the United States, as of 2015, with Turing Pharmaceuticals' acquisition of the US marketing rights for Daraprim tablets,[25] Daraprim has become a single-source and specialty pharmacy item, and the price of Daraprim has been increased.[26] The cost of a monthly course for a person on 75 mg dose rose to about $75,000/month, or $750 per tablet.[27][28] Outpatients can no longer obtain Daraprim from their community pharmacy, but only through a single dispensing pharmacy, Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy, and institutions can no longer order from their general wholesaler, but have to set up an account with the Daraprim Direct program.[26][29] Presentations from Retrophin, a company formerly headed by Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing, from which Turing acquired the rights to Daraprim, suggest that a closed distribution system could prevent generic competitors from legally obtaining the drugs for the bioequivalence studies required for FDA approval of a generic drug.[29]
Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing, defended the price hike by saying, "If there was a company that was selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle, and we buy that company and we ask to charge Toyota prices, I don't think that that should be a crime."[30][31] As a result of the backlash, Shkreli hired a crisis public relations firm to help explain his fund's move.[32] Turing Pharmaceuticals announced on November 24, 2015, "that it would not reduce the list price of that drug after all", but they will offer various patient assistance programs.[33] However, New York Times journalist Andrew Pollack noted that these programs "are standard for companies selling extremely high-priced drugs. They enable the patients to get the drug while pushing most of the costs onto insurance companies and taxpayers."[33]
The price increase has been fiercely criticised by physician groups such as HIV Medicine Associates and Infectious Diseases Society of America.[34]
In 2016, a group of high school students from Sydney Grammar supported by the University of Sydney prepared pyrimethamine as an illustration that the synthesis is comparatively easy and the price-hike unjustifiable. Shkreli said the schoolboys were not competition, likely because the necessary bioequivalence studies require a sample of the existing medication provided directly by the company, and not simply purchased from a pharmacy, which Turing could decline to provide.[35][36]
In India, over a dozen pharmaceutical companies manufacture and sell pyrimethamine tablets and, multiple combinations of generic pyrimethamine are available for a price ranging from US$0.04 to US$0.10 each (3–7 rupees).[37][38][39][8]
In the UK, the same drug is available from GSK at a cost of US$20 (£13) for 30 tablets (about $0.66 each).[40]
In Australia, the drug is available in most pharmacists at a cost of US$9.35 (A$12.99) for 50 tablets (around US$0.18 each).[41]
In Brazil, the drug is available for R$0.07 a pill, or about US$0.02.[42]
In Canada, the drug was reportedly discontinued in 2013, but hospitals may make the drug in-house when it is needed.[43] As of December 2015, Daraprim imported into Canada directly from GSK UK is available from an online pharmacy for US$2.20 per tablet.[44]
On October 22, 2015, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals announced it has made available compounded and customizable formulations of pyrimethamine and leucovorin in capsules to be taken by mouth starting as low as $99.00 for a 100-count bottle in the United States.[45]
Containing health care costs ain't rocket science, but it damn sure won't be as profitable for either politicians or their pharmaceutical lobbyists & CEOs...