"Name-brand prescription drug prices in the US have doubled in the last five years"

[jtuck004]

"Drug prices are a hot topic in the US presidential election, with candidates on both sides of the aisle vowing to battle Big Pharma and bring down exorbitant prescription costs in the country. The problem is real, though: Over the last five years, the average price of branded prescription drugs in the US has skyrocketed (paywall).
Indexed branded-prescription drug prices rose 16% to $264.43 on average in 2015, which was about half the growth rate seen in 2014, according a report released Monday (Mar. 15) by Express Scripts, a company that negotiates with drugmakers on behalf of US health insurers and employers. Since 2011, prices have soared 98%."...

http://qz.com/639681/name-brand-prescription-drug-prices-in-the-us-have-doubled-in-the-last-five-years/

Good that all our pols have the security to stand around and complain about it for years, while others die. Privilege has its perks.

It's what you get when people do things for you, and not like you.

[Recursion]

1. Providers are the problem. We picked the wrong villain in 2010.

We need price controls, like every other country in the world has. Do that, and I don't care how we finance it.

[HuckleB]

3. I think I know what you are saying, but please define "providers."

Thanks.

[Recursion]

4. In this order:

1. Hospitals
2. Physicians
3. Drug manufacturers

The remaining providers (device manufacturers, dentists, nurses, nursing homes, etc.) aren't really much of a factor.

Hospitals get $1 trillion a year
Physicians get $600 billion
Pharma gets $300 billion

Added together, that's nearly 2/3rds of our entire healthcare spending right there. Cut that in half (which would still leave physicians making more than the OECD average) and we're down to spending 12% of our GDP on healthcare rather than 18%; that's comparable with the Netherlands or Switzerland.

[HuckleB]

7. Whoops. I was wrong.

Your attack is misguided.

[Recursion]

9. Nope. Hospitals are the big one. Physicians are second. Pharma third.

That's where all the money is going. Insurance profit is spare change compared to them, though obviously every penny helps.

[HuckleB]

12. You keep telling yourself that.

[Recursion]

13. Yeah, it's what the actual data say

I'm not sure what fuzzy feeling you get denying that.

[HuckleB]

2. This is a massive issue.

None of our leaders has taken it up as a prominent concern.

That's infuriating.

[area51]

11. +1 n/t

[Downwinder]

5. Good that there is no inflation.

In 10 years my single medication has gone from $1,000 to $6,000 per month. Meanwhile I have gone through 5 Part "D" providers.

[global1]

6. Is It Just A Coincidence That The Affordable Care Act Was...

was signed into law in March 2010 and Big Pharma was kinda given a pass?

[HuckleB]

8. Yes, it was.

[Recursion]

10. That's what happens when you decide financing reform is all we need.

Same problem single payer faces.