Drug prices defy free market solutions: Your Say

We asked our followers what they think should be done to keep drug prices in check. Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

Put a cap on advertising? I feel like that is where a lot of our money goes.

— @CarrieWHarper

Prevent greedy CEOs from taking advantage of sick people by raising drugs an exorbitant amount as we just saw.

— @MichaelKrenz43

Get rid of the FDA and reduce the costs of bringing drugs to market. Let a private group review, research and rate.

— @EricKjos

Letter to the editor:

Then-Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., stated on 60 Minutes, in an episode that aired April 1, 2007, that the pharmaceutical industry wrote the bill that created Part D, the Medicare drug benefit, and that those who opposed the bill were strong-armed into voting for it at closed door meetings (“PhRMA: Don’t mess with Part D success”).

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Lawmakers attempted to obtain an accurate statement of the cost of the benefit from the actuary of the agency that administers Medicare before the vote on the bill. Tom Scully, the politically appointed head of the agency at the time, threatened to fire the actuary if he released the figures.

David M. Walker, then-comptroller general of the United States, stated in written testimony included in the Government Accountability Office report “Long-Term Budget Outlook,” released on Jan. 11, 2007, that “the single largest contributor to the deterioration of our long-term outlook was the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill in 2003.”

The opposing view writer’s claim that Part D has been a huge success rings hollow. It has indeed been a huge success for the pharmaceutical industry.

Paula Bowker; Jasper, Ga.

After public outcry, Turing Pharmaceuticals last month backed off a 5,000% price increase for a drug, from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

Well, such a price increase should have spurred a competitor to come up with an alternative drug. Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the drug, so raising the price is its right. It is also within consumers’ rights to avoid the drug when an alternative comes along.

— Rusty Harris

Stop public advertising of prescription drugs. Some medicines cost a fortune likely due in part to their ad costs. This is crazy. Medicine in the United States is already too expensive.

— Charles Edward Brown

“For profit” and “health care” have an inherent conflict of interest. When large corporations (pharmaceutical and insurance companies) and their lobbyists continue to hold sway over useless politicos with the priority of quarterly profits, greed will always win the day.

— David M. Jack

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday.