By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    benefits of using protein powder to build muscles
    Protein Powder for Muscle Mass: Everything You Need to Know
    December 12, 2021
    changes brought on by blockchain in healthcare
    Technology In The Healthcare Industry
    March 28, 2022
    What Does Core Body Temperature Say About Health?
    August 17, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Do Electronic Health Records Reduce Malpractice Claims?
    February 2, 2013
    A Humble Opinion: Book Review
    May 3, 2015
    medicaid
    Paul Krugman: Stop Being an Embarrassment to the Profession
    March 7, 2013
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Drugs and Devices: Expensive. Hubris: Priceless.
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Technology > Medical Devices > Drugs and Devices: Expensive. Hubris: Priceless.
Medical Devices

Drugs and Devices: Expensive. Hubris: Priceless.

Marya Zilberberg
Marya Zilberberg
Share
5 Min Read
SHARE

This morning I was listening to the Morning Edition on NPR, and heard a story about the tax on medical devices that is written into the healthcare law. As you can imagine, there is opposition to such a tax by the manufacturers, as they are concerned about the usual, “stifling innovation” (yawn). It’s hard to be amused by anything to do with healthcare these days, but here is a part of the conversation that had me in LOLZ (my 14-yo’s expression):

This morning I was listening to the Morning Edition on NPR, and heard a story about the tax on medical devices that is written into the healthcare law. As you can imagine, there is opposition to such a tax by the manufacturers, as they are concerned about the usual, “stifling innovation” (yawn). It’s hard to be amused by anything to do with healthcare these days, but here is a part of the conversation that had me in LOLZ (my 14-yo’s expression):

ARNOLD: Okay. So here’s how this new tax works. When a medical device gets sold, there will be a 2.3 percent sales or excise tax. Now, people who support this tax say that the medical device makers are exaggerating about the impact. Paul Van de Water is an economist with the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He says that this tax is basically the same as a sales tax that you pay at the grocery store.
PAUL VAN DE WATER: The grocery store is collecting the tax. The grocery store is the institution that sends the tax to the state government, just the way the medical device manufacturer is going to write the check to the Treasury.
ARNOLD: Van de Water says that the tax doesn’t really target the medical device makers that much. They’ll just pass most of the cost along to their customers, who are mostly big hospitals, the same way a grocery store charges their customers. But the industry disagrees. David Nexon is with the medical device trade group called AdvaMed.
DAVID NEXON: There’s a difference between a tax that, you know, an individual consumer pays as opposed to one that you’re negotiating a price with a large, sophisticated buyer.
ARNOLD: In other words, Nexon says a hospital chain will push back and resist paying anything extra.
NEXON: In this very competitive market, it’s extremely difficult for our members to raise prices.

Hah! Is he saying what I think he is saying? That because individual consumers are too dumb to understand about externalizing additional expenses, such as taxes, it is easier to put one over on them than on the savvy hospitals? Could he possibly mean that only “large, sophisticated buyers,” and not ordinary consumers, would never stand for the information asymmetry they thrive on? That the individual consumers just don’t have the power that hospitals do to push up against potentially predatory pricing? 

The last time I heard or read anything this blatant was in this New York Times piece from December 2009. This is a company executive talking about the rationale for the company’s cancer drug’s disproportionately steep price:

More Read

pharma and rewards
How Pharma Can Meet Consumer Expectations
The 5 Biggest Challenges Healthcare Leaders are Facing in 2015
AbbVie, Angel Investors Restock Nanomedicine Leader Chad Mirkin’s Pharma Venture
Are Wearables the Future of Clinical Trials?
Words to Avoid in Your Medical Marketing Communication

Mr. Caruso also said the price of Folotyn was not out of line with that of other drugs for rare cancers. Patients, moreover, are likely to use the drug for only a couple of months because the tumor worsens so quickly, he said. So the total cost of using Folotyn will be less than for many other drugs with lower monthly prices.

Wow, do these people get paid to advance their organizations’ agendas? For my money they are not doing such a hot job at anything other than confirming all the societal views of them. Are they too stupid to realize that, even if you think stuff like this, you shouldn’t say it out loud? How embarrassing.

Bottom line? Their drugs and devices: expensive. Their hubris: priceless.


TAGGED:medical industrypharma
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Wireless Devices Will Dramatically Change How Medicine Is Practiced

December 2, 2011

Video Released of TEDMED Talk on Focused Ultrasound

December 9, 2011
Medical DevicesMedical InnovationsMobile HealthRemote DiagnosticsTechnology

3 Key Takeaways from 2011 mHealth Summit

December 31, 2011
The Top 5 Considerations for Successful Medical Device Software Development
Medical DevicesTechnology

Big Data: How Smart Medical Devices Can Change the Future of Healthcare

February 24, 2019
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?