I don't think Bernie's "plan" will do anything to cut those costs, and I honestly don't know what anyone can do without the Congress behind them passing meaningful laws.

Of all the things that great bully-boy Trump has tossed out, his statement that he would negotiate strongly with (I think he actually said "negotiate the hell out of&quot pharmaceutical companies to bring the cost to consumers down, struck me as something this jerk would be capable of doing. Maybe. But he certainly speaks to people's anger about that.

Which is the problem with a LOT of drugs. Producing the shit isn't all that expensive, but figuring out how to is outrageous. This is how the Canadians get away with charging lower prices for pharmaceuticals - the Canadian government doesn't allow US R&D costs to be added into the price of the meds sold up there.

but it is well established that pharma grossly over estimates the R&D that they pay for. Government and universities pay for a huge amount of the basic research.

Treatments more expensive. On this one the alternative treatment is more expensive so it does not make sense to go with the higher cost.

So it's not objectively, immutably, $1125 per pill. One of the things that needs to change is the attitude that there is no other way to exist except as helpless hostages of the pharmaceutical industry.

only the process of how it was made is patented.

So if someone figures out how to make the same molecule in a different way, the drug can be copied and marketed in India and third world countries.

It is unfair because most of the cost of a drug goes into identifying hundreds of molecules, finding one that works and then proving that it works.

allow family to make a lot of decisions that are not allowed in many single payor countries. The doctors can tell families there is no hope and not put so many people on ventilators in the ICU in their final days when all of the patients organs are failing from the disease.

I think it's out of control here and I don't know how we can reign it in.

Sarah Palin made a mess out destroying the part of the ACA that had more end of life discussions with the MDs.

I am voting for Bernie because he pushes the issues further to the left. Maybe if we get more democrats in congress the ACA could be tweaked more to benefit the public. I don't expect single payer. But, pushing the issues more towards the left is important in my opinion.

"death panel" statements now end of life care planning cannot be billed from the ACA as they had originally wanted.

“Drug Shortages
Forcing Hard Decisions on Rationing Treatments

Such shortages are the new normal in American medicine. But the rationing that results has been largely hidden from patients and the public.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/29/us/drug-shortages-forcing-hard-decisions-on-rationing-treatments.html?WT.mc_id=2016-FEBRUARY-FB-MC4-AUD_DEV-0201-0229&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=AUDDEVREMARK&_r=1

He can not get his plan done. No one knows that better than Hilary except maybe Barack Obama.

... nearly half of what they get paid today.

His plan makes mention of collective bargaining, I don't think they'll give a shit about all of that ...

Private HCI accounts for 200 billion of the 1.7 trillion yearly HC cost... the rest are the 3 aforementioned groups.