OKAY PEOPLE LISTEN UP. Just because someone says it doesn’t mean it’s true. And even if it’s true, that doesn’t mean it’s relevant.
Currently listening to podcast No Agenda which breaks down as follows: 70% crackpot, 25% begging for donations, 38% entertaining me (there’s substantial entertaining/crackpot overlap). But one thing they just said really hacked me off.
They say Obama just appointed some dude to head up some agricultural trade commission. Whatever. The problem, they say, is that this new appointee used to have some other bigshot government health job where he lifted the cap on how much drug companies could charge for cancer drugs. Both show hosts are disgusted with Obama appointing this jerk who, they imply, must be beholden to Big Cancer. “And this really hits home because my aunt has cancer,” says Adam Curry.
STOP. A cap on drug prices HURTS cancer patients.
Say a drug company sees potential for a possible new cancer treatment drug, but the government puts a cap on how much they’d be allowed to charge for it. They run the numbers and realize that even if they developed a drug that actually worked, they couldn’t break even on it, let alone make a profit.
Would you want a company in your 401k portfolio if they produced drugs at a net loss? No, and neither would any other stockholder. Investments would dry up, jobs would be lost, and the company would eventually go under.
Putting price caps on cancer drugs prevent drug companies from exploring and developing innovative treatments.
What’s that you say? ..This post has nothing to do with criminology?..
Hey kids, don’t start fires.