By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/05/2026Take Biden's plan to finally allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharma companies, a move that was *very* long overdue. Before this, the way the system worked was: pharma companies named a price - any price! - and then Uncle Sucker paid it. 14/ 1110
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/05/2026No other country in the world operates this way, and, of course, the lion's share of pharma R&D costs are already borne by the American public (or they were, until Musk DOGEd the US research budget to death). 15/ 1110
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/05/2026So the American public pays more than anyone else in the world to develop these drugs, and then they pay more than anyone else in the world to buy these drugs. This is madness, and putting an end to it is an obvious political win. 16/ 1132