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U.S. prescription drug costs are a crime

The White House has proposed tweaks to government health-care programs, but tweaks aren't enough. The underlying problem is drug prices that are indeed murderous.

By The Bloomberg Editors | Updated on February 28, 2018
State legislatures have aimed closer to the mark with efforts to expose the math behind price increases. But transparency only gets you so far. (Photo: Shutterstock)

President Donald Trump has complained that U.S. drug companies are “getting away with murder.” For once the hyperbole is forgivable: It suggests he takes the problem of drug costs seriously and might be willing to do something about it. Unfortunately, his administration’s efforts up to now suggest the opposite.

The White House has proposed tweaks to government health-care programs. Some of these measures are worth trying — they could help at the margin — but tweaks aren’t enough. The underlying problem is drug prices that are indeed murderous: Americans and their insurers often pay many times what people in other developed countries pay for the same medicines. That’s what policy needs to confront.

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