The Pharma business model is broken.
Take any other industry and give it the same circumstances as the medical industry and the results will be the same. If the customer has no choice and there is no transparency, crazy things will happen, because the business model they are using has all of the disadvantages and none of the advantages of free market, monopoly and government control combined. It is a structural problem.
Edwards at BNet placebo effect CBS Interactive:
http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-busine...tag=nl.rSINGLE

I wonder if the CEOs realize how true their off handed statement - "raising prices for the hell of it", is.

It's hell alright, as noted , sadly, in the warning in the box on the blog:
"Prescription drugs can cause bankruptcy."

I am amazed at the prices you have to pay for treatment of any kind in the US, and wonder how it is all sustained (I know many are unable to). A friend posted recently that a visit for her partner to ER for a couple of stitches cost $1200 off his insurance, that feeds a family for a year in some parts of the world.

It must work for some, I know, but it always seems mind-boggling to me.......

As does the concept of putting up medication prices for the the hell of it.... surely something will have to give sooner or later.....

Lindy