Overheard recently:
Speaker: Epi pens cost this much each (insert expensive price here)
Audience member: You can buy them in Canada for this much (insert cheaper price here)
Speaker: That's capitalism for you.
Nope. The topic wasn't capitalism but health care so I kept my mouth shut but no, that isn't capitalism.
Capitalism is someone (an American, by the way) inventing the epi pen and saving millions of lives in the process.
Not capitalism is the Canadian government informing the maker of epi pens that if the price isn't lower then they will be banned from selling them in Canada. Rather than lose the market, they sell them for a lower price, forcing Americans to subsidize the cost of each and every epi pen sold in the United States.
If the maker of the epi pen could make a healthy profit and recoup the billions they undoubtedly spend developing it and getting it approved, it's a pretty good bet that they would reduce the price and sell more of them. Lots more. I'd carry a couple around in my IFAK if they didn't cost much. But they don't and therefore it's reasonable to assume that therefore they can't. They most likely lose money (or at best break even) at the Canadian price.
Definitely not capitalism.
No comments:
Post a Comment