Healthcare Negotiation

Healthcare in the United States is another excellent example of how profits are placed before people. Many know that the United States has high drug prices when compared to the rest of the world, but few know about one of the main reasons that this is true. The main difference between drugs prices in the United States and other parts of the world lie in the process of price negotiation. In Germany, for example, the drug manufacturer must negotiate with a single buyer, made up of the interests of the insurers. Essentially, the government is allowed to negotiate drug prices with the manufacturer. The outcome is either that the manufacturer agrees to the price, or they are not allowed to sell their drugs in Germany. No such process exists in the united states, and in fact the US government has no authority regulate drug prices set by manufacturers at all. This means that drug companies often set the prices themselves. Many drug manufacturers have patents on certain drugs, like Insulin for example, meaning that they control the market for that drug and can charge whatever they want. In Germany, Insulin may cost $11 where it costs around $99 in the United States. You could argue that this is the result of a free market, but to do that you would have to support the idea of drug companies being allowed to function as monopolies. The only real upside of this system is the fact that there is a TON of financial incentive to produce drugs that can really help people. Because of this the United States leads the world in new drug R&D. As money is pumped into this industry by government and private investors, new drugs are created that go on to help the world.