EpiPen..... nobody beileves this, do they?

[draykorinee]

"after paying 300 plus another 300, people pay 0 dollars for it!"

That's practically what your argument looks like.

$300+$300=$0 paid, therefore no price rises in the last 9 years, in fact its plummeted in price.

[Tijuana]

Their CEO is going in front of Congress to explain the huge price increase for Epipens.

This was copied from a yahoo story:

In her testimony, Bresch says she understands there is considerable concern and skepticism about the pricing. She says some think the company makes $600 off each EpiPen, but that is not true.

She says the company makes about $50 per pen after rebates, fees, materials and other costs are subtracted.

How typical of Congress. They created the problem with Big Pharm by giving them ridiculous terms on patent laws. They legit think that the issue is that the companies are greedy, not that congress created a system where gaming the patent system is viable like this. If only there was a way we could change laws...

[Azadina]

$300+$300=$0 paid, therefore no price rises in the last 9 years, in fact its plummeted in price.

I wonder if he would like a free car. I could give him one for free after the first minor 50000 dollars payment

[Thagrynor]

I mean, he states facts. If you don't believe facts because someone you don't like says them, that is pretty bad.

You say "he states facts.", but did you verify these facts? Have you seen independent reports/audits to verify them? Or are you calling them "facts" because he stated they were facts or simply stated things and are confusing "statements" with "facts"?

I ask because it is very easy for me to say, "This is a fact: ...." before something that will help justify something after I do something horrible, like Martin Shkreli did with the drug company he bought. If I were in the news and looked at as a despicable human being for doing something and someone came along and did something very similar, though maybe on a slightly smaller scale, you bet your ass I would be out there claiming that what they did was totally justifiable and stating "here are some facts ..." that no one will verify, hoping that if people buy those facts, maybe they will then turn around and be like, "Well, if those are the facts ... then maybe what he did wasn't so bad after all?".

[breadisfunny]

I wouldn't say those are 100% accurate. I've done both things, and the before-insurance bill wasn't that high. Ambulance ride was ~$500, emergency room to get a shot of epinephrine was ~$400. Sure, you could see a $20,000 bill for something that involved emergency surgery, but getting a shot of epinephrine from the ER isn't going to run you that high.



There are people DIYing the injectors by re-purposing reusable diabetes injectors. It's crazy.

i was sent in the hospital in an ambulance and the bill for it was $2600.

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As someone who actually works with insurance billing for epipen everyday, I present to you

https://www.epipen.com/copay-offer/

No this is not new. Yes this is run in partnership with Mylan. Yes they renew it every year.

Nobody pays $600 dollars for an epipen. No one even pays $300. After that copay offer plus insurance, people pay 0 dollars. If you don't have insurance it's your own damn fault at this point.

The shear amount of outright LYING and misinformation spread by the media on this story all in a bid to get more clicks is disgusting.
Mylan and its CEO are being crucified on the alter of public entertainment. That is the only terrible thing about the story.

yeah those POOR CEOS WHATEVER WILL THEY DO?

[D3thray]

I wonder if he would like a free car. I could give him one for free after the first minor 50000 dollars payment

I mean if it were going to work he same way where the manufacturer gives me an instant rebate for half the price and my auto insurance picked up the other half, sure I'd take a free car.

0 dollars paid means 0 dollars paid. As in you walk into the pharmacy and we go here have your free Epipen.

[Crissi]

I mean if it were going to work he same way where the manufacturer gives me an instant rebate for half the price and my auto insurance picked up the other half, sure I'd take a free car.

0 dollars paid means 0 dollars paid. As in you walk into the pharmacy and we go here have your free Epipen.

The epipen may be "free", but the premiums paid to the insurance companies sure arent. Those keep rising, and medical costs are a large part of that.

[Celista]

The epipen may be "free", but the premiums paid to the insurance companies sure arent. Those keep rising, and medical costs are a large part of that.

This is really why we need health care reform. We'll see more finger-pointing between practitioners, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies until that point, because many people are willing to buy into the bullshit...all they see is "coupon" "deeply discounted" and "free", when nothing (especially in health care) is really free.

Even if you're not getting a $600 bill in the mail for your EpiPen, you'll be paying for it one way or another.

[Asiwassaying]

I do.

To think otherwise would be saying that insurance companies pay full price for drugs. They don't. That's why they have an approved list. The markup is just the cost if you didn't have insurance or had to pay out of pocket. Which few actually do.

They could mark up their price to 5,000,000 per pen and it would amount to the same. Insurance pays like $50 per and charge you a copayment depending on your agreement.

[Azadina]

The epipen may be "free", but the premiums paid to the insurance companies sure arent. Those keep rising, and medical costs are a large part of that.

Exactly this. What if a person needs one epipen a year, but pays 200 dollars a month for health insurance? That's 2400 dollars epipen there. It's not what I'd call "free"

[Gurluas]

Reading this makes me happy I live in a country with free healthcare.
I'd rather pay 20% more taxes and get free healthcare than losing my life savings and get permanently broke if I get sick.

[Themius]

As someone who actually works with insurance billing for epipen everyday, I present to you

https://www.epipen.com/copay-offer/

No this is not new. Yes this is run in partnership with Mylan. Yes they renew it every year.

Nobody pays $600 dollars for an epipen. No one even pays $300. After that copay offer plus insurance, people pay 0 dollars. If you don't have insurance it's your own damn fault at this point.

The shear amount of outright LYING and misinformation spread by the media on this story all in a bid to get more clicks is disgusting.
Mylan and its CEO are being crucified on the alter of public entertainment. That is the only terrible thing about the story.

So what you're saying is that " no single person pays the maximum price instead the new higher price is paid by insurance companies" uh huh... no way insurance companies raise their cost in order to put up with rising health care cost, no way that happens.

[anyaka21]

So what you're saying is that " no single person pays the maximum price instead the new higher price is paid by insurance companies" uh huh... no way insurance companies raise their cost in order to put up with rising health care cost, no way that happens.

exactly, this just feeds the system. Cost is put on to the insurance company. Insurance company raises their premiums to cover extra cost of medicine.

Remember, as Skreli mentioned, Mylan is a generic company. They don't really do new research and development. This is just a pure money grab to raise the cost of a medicine that's essentially mandatory and needs to be swapped out once per year whether they are used or not. And all it does is go straight into the pocket of of the employees, executive and ceo. Remember, she now makes $19million per year....

[Zomis]

If only Democrats had focused on passing laws to protect consumers instead of passing laws to pay for shitty health insurance that still makes it too expensive.

[Grim Retailer]

Health Care does not behave like other services or products in a market. There is an entire branch of economics dedicated to the way healthcare delivery behaves economically. Its called Health Care Economics.

What you are looking at here is the effects of one of the ways it differs from most things, price elasticity. Price elasticity is a term for how much of an ability the customer has to refuse to purchase a product if the price is too high. In the case of potentially lifesaving products, that ability is effectively zero. Hence, the price borders on ruinous.

Reading this makes me happy I live in a country with free healthcare.
I'd rather pay 20% more taxes and get free healthcare than losing my life savings and get permanently broke if I get sick.

I am sorry but this is just pure balderdash. Most developed nations taxpayers pay less in taxes for government health care than Americans. Odds are, if your country ran healthcare like America does, you'd be paying more in taxes for healthcare. And you would receive no healthcare.

Americans pay per citizen more for government healthcare that covers 28 % of the population than other developed nations pay to cover 100 %.

[Daerio]

If only Democrats had focused on passing laws to protect consumers instead of passing laws to pay for shitty health insurance that still makes it too expensive.

There is no political party on the side of the consumer. Period.

[zenkai]

There is no political party on the side of the consumer. Period.

I 100% agree with you, this is why I laugh at partisans.

[D3thray]

It's not even a question of free healthcare or not here, these cost 12 times less in Europe (from a different brand) before any subsidy.

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This is honestly one of the most stupid posts I saw here. Basically "someone else can pay that crazy amount for you, so the crazy amount is justified".

If the insurance company paid 600 dollars for it I might agree with you, but they don't 600 is the AWP. It's like MSRP on a car. Nobody pays that. The insurance company probably pays around $200 for it if that and that's being generous. That's because they negotiate a contract with the manufacturers on behalf of their customers.

Keep talking like you know what's going on please.

[zenkai]

Don't worry folks, Obamacare fixed it, all you poor people shouldn't have to worry about the cost going up.

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If the insurance company paid 600 dollars for it I might agree with you, but they don't 600 is the AWP. It's like MSRP on a car. Nobody pays that. The insurance company probably pays around $200 for it if that and that's being generous. That's because they negotiate a contract with the manufacturers on behalf of their customers.

Keep talking like you know what's going on please.

Even so the increase cost gets passed on to all consumers, the insurance company will just increase their rates to cover the increase cost.