🚀 go-pugleaf

On Sun, 11 Feb 2018 23:53:31 -0000 (UTC), John Levine
<jo...@taugh.com> wrote:

>In article <2bk18dtm8hmppb1jv...@4ax.com>,
>J. Clarke  <jclarke...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>They may cycle more, but French and Germans drink about 12 litres of
>>>alcohol per year, Americans drink 9.
>>
>>12 liters per year works out to a little over an ounce a day, a
>>quantity that the doctors believe may have a variety of health
>>benefits.
>
>That's the average.  Half drink more, often much more, half drink less.
>In the U.S. about 1/3 of adults don't drink at all.
>
>>>They sure do when you're negotiating drug prices.  Everywhere but the
>>>US there are drug price caps, yet despite all the moaning and groaning
>>>the drug companies continue to sell in those countries and to be very
>>>profitable.
>>
>>Economies of scale come on the production side, not on the sales side.
>
>OK, feel free to call them Economies of Plugh when negotiating with
>drug companies.  But they sure make a big difference.

How about we call it "quantity discounts" which the drug companies may
or may not offer.  Negotiated prices have little to do with production
costs.  Companies have been known to "buy in" by selling below cost in
order to get their foot in the door with a customer.

>>>That would also affect prices.  US doctors are paid about twice what
>>>doctors are other places for similar work.  One excuse for that is
>>>that US doctors, at least in their early years, have education debt to
>>>pay down.
>>
>>It would affect prices because more workers for a given number of
>>openings means lower wages, unless there are artificialy wage controls
>>in place.
>
>I'm getting the impression that you're not very familiar with the way that
>the US medical system works.  When's the last time you price shopped for a
>doctor?

I'm getting the impression that you're not very familiar with
economics.  In any market that does not have price controls there will
be a range of prices, often for identical goods.  That does not mean
that doubling the supply of goods will not reduce prices across the
board.