As the Marxist agitator #AdamSmith once said, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/09/commissar-merck#price-giver
1/
--
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/09/commissar-merck#price-giver
1/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/2
2/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/3
Case in point: #pharma giant #Merck. The #InflationReductionAct (#IRA) includes a provision that allows #Medicare to (finally) start (weakly) negotiating the prices it pays for (a tiny handful of) drugs.
3/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/4
In other words: Medicare simply pays a pharma companies - whose products build on billions in publicly funded basic research, whose taxes are reduced by billions in research credits, whose patents are backstopped by billions in enforcement - whatever it demands.
4/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/5
Enter the IRA. Starting in 2026, Medicare will be permitted to negotiate the price of ten (10) drugs.
5/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/6
https://prospect.org/health/2023-05-11-regulators-bungling-drug-price-reform/
The system will *not* consider the prices that #Medicaid or the #VA (which *are* allowed to bargain on prices) pay.
6/
Regulators on the Verge of Bungling Drug Price Reform, Advocates Say
David Dayen (The American Prospect)Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/7
But this isn't enough for Merck. They are suing the Biden administration over the IRA's drug pricing plan, arguing that it is an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/06/merck-sues-biden-administration-over-medicare-drug-price-negotiations.html
7/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/8
8/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/9
https://prospect.org/health/2023-06-08-merck-negotiating-drug-prices-unconstitutional/
9/
Merck Says Negotiating Drug Prices Is Unconstitutional
Ryan Cooper (The American Prospect)Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/10
10/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/11
The irony here is that Merck itself is a *very* powerful buyer. Whether negotiating commercial leases, raw materials or wages, Merck is ruthless in extracting the lowest prices it can from its suppliers.
11/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/12
https://mergr.com/merck-acquisitions
Anticapitalist investors funded these acquisitions in the expectation that Merck would be able to use its market dominance to pay suppliers less, charge customers more.
12/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/13
The IRA's drug-bargaining provisions are extraordinarily weak. When they were first mooted, I talked about how Dems were caving on muscular drug price controls that would benefit every American (except a handful of pharma shareholders):
https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/18/bipartisan-consensus/#corruption
13/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/14
https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2021/11/healthcare-affordability--majority-of-adults-support-significant-changes-to-the-health-system.html
14/
Healthcare Affordability: Majority of Adults Support Significant Changes to the Health System
RWJFCory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/15
https://khn.org/news/article/public-opinion-prescription-drug-prices-democratic-plan/
15/
Public Opinion Is Unified on Lowering Drug Prices. Why Are Leaders Settling for Less?
KFF Health NewsCory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/16
16/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/17
17/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/18
Given all that, there would have been no downside to the Dems passing an IRA that subjected the drug companies the same modest, commensense, market-based discipline we see in Canada, or the UK, or France, or Germany, or Switzerland.
18/
Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/eof
--
Image:
Flying Logos (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Over_$1,000,000_dollars_in_USD_$100_bill_stacks.png
CC BY-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
eof/
File:Over $1,000,000 dollars in USD $100 bill stacks.png - Wikimedia Commons
commons.wikimedia.orgE.M. Faulds / Beth
•Cory Doctorow
•You have misunderstood how "unlisting" works (unlisted toots are hidden only for nonfollowers on the same instance, not followers). As noted in my bio, I post long threads from this account and there are many ways to get my essays if my Mastodon style doesn't suit - RSS, newsletter, Medium, Tumblr, a blog, etc. I recommend unfollowing me here and subscribing to one of those if you prefer. Links at pluralistic.net.
Cory Doctorow
•How To Make the Least-Worst Mastodon Threads - Cory Doctorow - Medium
Cory Doctorow (Medium)E.M. Faulds / Beth
•Cory Doctorow
•E.M. Faulds / Beth
•Dan Milway :mastodon:
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/2
Capitalism and markets are independent of each other, but the "capitalism=markets" is a useful pro-capital PR line since it implies that (a) anyone can win if their product is good and (b) the government shouldn't impose regulation on capital as The Market does that naturally.
A Library Socialist
•