Big Pharma continued extortion with drug price hikes the reason for Medicare for All

The inflation rate continues to be low. In fact, it was only 1.9 in 2018. In that light, there is no reason why drug prices should continue to rise at above that rate. But Big Pharma does not care about that. It is all about extorting money from the average American citizen and giving it to the wealthy owners and executives of the pharmaceutical companies. Here is the deal.

Think Progress reports the following.,

Dozens of pharmaceutical companies began the new year by raising prices for hundreds of medicines, proving the administration’s naming and shaming of Big Pharma last year didn’t work.

Approximately 60 companies hiked prices during the first two days of January, according to a new analysis from Rx Saving Solutions and first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Some of the biggest increases hover around 10 percent, more than four times inflation. The United States already has some of the highest drug prices in the world, especially compared to countries where the government regulates or negotiates prices of new drugs.
The average increase was 6.3 percent. Here are some of 2019’s biggest hikes:

*7T Pharma’s Zingo (to numb skin prior to drawing blood): 133.4 percent
*Hikma Pharmaceuticals’ Enalaprilat (to treat high blood pressure): 30.1 percent
*Hikma’s Ketamine (quick-acting anesthetic): 20 percent
*Hikma’s Morphine (injectable pain reliever): 10.2 percent
*Vertical Pharmaceuticals’ ConZip (to treat severe ongoing pain): 10 percent
*Allegran USA’s Bystolic (to treat high blood pressure): 9.5 percent
*Purdue’s OxyContin (highly addictive opioid): 9.5 percent

The increases affect the list prices of prescription drugs, so not what the majority of patients who have insurance actually pay at the pharmacy. List prices don’t reflect negotiations between drugmakers and insurance companies or the insurer middlemen (pharmacy benefits managers). Instead, they serve as a starting bid so companies are negotiating down from sky-high prices.

It is clear that Big Pharma abuses their privilege to do business. Most of their products were first developed by taxpayer dollars only to be capitalized and commercialized when it become viable. Thereafter they sock it to the people as they extort money because most of the times patients simply have no other choices.