> Now, I'm not saying the price they charge in the US is fair (for some definition of fair), but one does need to consider how much the ridiculous American drug prices are subsidizing the $24/year NHS prescriptions. A government can regulate the price of drugs, but can't force the companies to sell them in the first place. Not directly, anyway.
Remember that the cost to the NHS is far more than $24 - which refers to the £8 prescription fee paid in the UK, twice per year. It's actually £220.41 per patient per month for the NHS - about $335. So whilst it's still somewhat more expensive in the US, it's not much more expensive - and well within the bounds of shrewd negotiating (which I'd imagine insurers would normally do).
I figured it was costing the NHS much more than that, but I did not know they were covering so much. Thanks for the information.
The issue of what insurers actually pay versus what the uninsured are expected to pay is a tangential hot button issue for me, especially since I started treatment for my sleep disorders.
Any prescription you get on the NHS costs the same amount (and there are many exemptions, for example they're free if you're a child, unemployed, retired, a cancer patient etc). There's always some debate about certain very expensive drugs (generally for cancer) and whether the NHS should pay.
Remember that the cost to the NHS is far more than $24 - which refers to the £8 prescription fee paid in the UK, twice per year. It's actually £220.41 per patient per month for the NHS - about $335. So whilst it's still somewhat more expensive in the US, it's not much more expensive - and well within the bounds of shrewd negotiating (which I'd imagine insurers would normally do).
[1] - http://www.awp.nhs.uk/handlers/downloads.ashx?id=9572