Dead by shortage of $50

[Madner Kami]

There are other things that need to be looked at, before you fiddle around with rules about accepting new drugs. Breaking pharma-monopolies is the thing that matters.

[Robovski]

Thalidomide. Look it up. It was a miracle drug widely adopted in Europe but the FDA didn't approve it right away, wanting more tests. This event worked out with the FDA being proved right and many deformed European babies being born. You can argue the FDA is too cautious but they will always point at Thalidomide as to why they are cautious.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well he should have earned the money to pay for that insulin himself instead of being a parasite. Life isn't a right (after you've been born, that is), its a privilege you have to earn.-Republicans.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I think we need a system for mass charges of voluntary manslaughter against companies that artificially inflate life-saving drug prices.

I can't believe there are still people who say that this man deserved to die, but it is totally our socio-political reality.

[Admiral X]

Insulin is not that expensive to make. Other countries don't get cheap insulin with socialism, Americans suffer it due to protectionism. The unusually high price of insulin in America is a result of artificial scarcity. FDA licencing procedures for new market entrants are expensive and uncertain. Free trade in pharmaceuticals (importing medicines) is effectively banned.

Bolstered by this and the present model for private insurance makes it possible for well-positioned players to jack up prices for no reason - something that in former years might have been called price-fixing and heavily prosecuted.

I have a feeling that this is the reason for most of the excessive medical costs in this country. This is also something that won't go away with a UK-style system - it will simply be hidden in the taxes we pay in much the same way our massive military budget is.

On the other hand, those regulations are meant to protect potential patients from pharma companies rushing medications with harmful side-effects into pharmacies.

And yet this seems to happen anyway. More often than not, these regulations simply serve to limit competition and do little to protect the consumer.

[Admiral X]

I think we need a system for mass charges of voluntary manslaughter against companies that artificially inflate life-saving drug prices.

I can't believe there are still people who say that this man deserved to die, but it is totally our socio-political reality.

No one is saying he deserved to die.

[Darth Wedgius]

A bit more information on the subject:
http://diabetesaliciousness.blogspot.co ... s-rip.html

[The Romulan Republic]

I think we need a system for mass charges of voluntary manslaughter against companies that artificially inflate life-saving drug prices.

I can't believe there are still people who say that this man deserved to die, but it is totally our socio-political reality.

No one is saying he deserved to die.

Not here, perhaps, but their are doubtless Right-wing trolls on other sites who would.

And, frankly, it is a logical extrapolation of Right-wing economics, which are predicated on the belief that you should have to work to earn things, even things that are necessary for life, like insulin, rather than getting "handouts".

In other words, if you can't afford it, its because you didn't try hard enough, and brought it on yourself.

Personally, I think that people should work hard if they can, most people would rather work hard than do nothing (I've been unemployed, I've done "sitting around all day", and it sucks), but you shouldn't have to work hard in order to live.

[Admiral X]

Not here, perhaps, but their are doubtless Right-wing trolls on other sites who would.

I know you like to envision your political enemies as mustache-twirling cartoons, but they aren't. No one would say this guy deserved to die.

And, frankly, it is a logical extrapolation of Right-wing economics, which are predicated on the belief that you should have to work to earn things, even things that are necessary for life, like insulin, rather than getting "handouts".

Maybe put your own money where your mouth is before you start criticizing others for not wanting to pony up themselves.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

There ARE real people who say the poor deserve to die.

Do I need to bring up a Forbes article talking about how shorter lifespans and massive die-offs are good for employers to drive the point home?