High drug prices are the result of monopoly capital. There are actually very few pharmaceutical companies. They have dominant control over the industry and careers for relevant STEM majors and applying university research. They charge exorbitant prices through market domination and the US government gladly support this, as it is largely just a proxy for business interests. The temporary monopoly of IP is protected at all costs (it was even used to weaponize COVID vaccine access!).
However, this is not something that will be solved by simply asking politicians to regulate the market. Monopolization is a core outcome of capitalism, it increases the overall volume of profit that a company can make and therefore destroy the competition. And capture of the political system the default, it’s an expression of the dominant economic forces. Both parties are capitalist and do the bidding of their business factions, often the same factions at the same time. Expecting a capitalist politician to act against the interests of their donors, their party, and the complicit media apparatus that keeps them in their position is absurd.
Instead, you will only see some PR attempts at the margins, like specifically capping the price of insulin. Access to insulin without impoverishing yourself is of course a dramatically good thing, but it is also a drop in the bucket compared to the overall grift that will remain firmly in place.
A question to ask yourself is: if I cannot reasonably expect capitalist politicians to address this and it’s a core feature of the economic system, what should I do instead?
High drug prices are the result of monopoly capital. There are actually very few pharmaceutical companies. They have dominant control over the industry and careers for relevant STEM majors and applying university research. They charge exorbitant prices through market domination and the US government gladly support this, as it is largely just a proxy for business interests. The temporary monopoly of IP is protected at all costs (it was even used to weaponize COVID vaccine access!).
However, this is not something that will be solved by simply asking politicians to regulate the market. Monopolization is a core outcome of capitalism, it increases the overall volume of profit that a company can make and therefore destroy the competition. And capture of the political system the default, it’s an expression of the dominant economic forces. Both parties are capitalist and do the bidding of their business factions, often the same factions at the same time. Expecting a capitalist politician to act against the interests of their donors, their party, and the complicit media apparatus that keeps them in their position is absurd.
Instead, you will only see some PR attempts at the margins, like specifically capping the price of insulin. Access to insulin without impoverishing yourself is of course a dramatically good thing, but it is also a drop in the bucket compared to the overall grift that will remain firmly in place.
A question to ask yourself is: if I cannot reasonably expect capitalist politicians to address this and it’s a core feature of the economic system, what should I do instead?