AOC asks pharma CEO why $2,000 HIV drug costs just $8 in Australia: 'People are dying for no...

1SG (Join to see) Guess you're not old enough to understand the concept of maintenance medications. Need new scripts about every 6 months, $$$ for doctors and $$$ for drug makers.

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen - I get that but here are two of the biggest problems. 1.) U.S. law prohibits Medicare from negotiating prices directly with drug companies and 2.) Free pricing system. These along with bigger drug companies gaming the system by blocking smaller generic brand companies to keep drug prices high contributes to the growing problem of drug costs. Roughly 70% of OTC non controlled drugs are made outside the U.S and imported and sold at higher cost.

P.S. I am not that old but will be retiring from the Army in a few months and will start getting acquainted with the VA health care system

1SG (Join to see) Big issue for sure but harkens back to need for campaign finance reform IMO. All drug companies, big and small, make campaign contributions to keep laws like those affecting Medicare drug pricing exactly as they are. I use military healthcare so drug prices aren't really relevant to me but too many aren't so lucky.
Subject 2: If you're retiring you don't necessarily need to become acquainted with VA health system. TRICARE will allow you to use civilian doctors and if you are located close to a military facility you can actually choose to use use base clinics, which is what I do. One more thing for you to investigate before you actually retire.

There is only one way to combat the issue of rising drug/medical prices. Make it impossible for big pharma/insurance companies to create relationships with career politicians. #TermLimits