Bernie Sanders: Donald Trump Is Right About Big Pharma
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-trump-big-pharma_us_58768db1e4b092a6cae4daba
>>100535
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/01/11/trump-on-drug-prices-pharma-companies-are-getting-away-with-murder/
He is right, but pharmaceutical companies actually offer a product. To take on pharmaceuticals without mention of private insurance companies suggests distorted priorities.
Other than providing financial security against unanticipated emergencies, private insurance just acts as middle-men between pharmaceuticals and hospitals/pharmacies. They have some collective bargaining power in negotiating prices between pharma/biomed industries and pharmacies/hospitals. But without regulation and subsidy, they still have no incentive to support individuals too poor and risky, any more than pharmacies or pharmaceutical companies.
Of course he won't talk about this dimension of the problem; because the most feasible immediate solution to that is a single-payer system, public option, or regulation + subsidy.