An Investors Business Daily op-ed piece on the basic incompatibility between Islam and non-Islamic governments.

Thanks -- added to my post on Islam in Europe, a few above.

Can't pay when we quadruple prices overnight?

Then die, bitches - we own your medicine!

The war on boys continues apace.

Gog's link brings up the question, again:

How much of the work of other people, in patient care and technology, should you be able to command?

Nothing is free. Not even medicine.

And you can't wish it so.

"Nothing is free. Not even medicine."

And?

Gog's link: the NY Times wants more government to solve a problem created by government. Valeant can cheaply buy an old drug with expired patents, then greatly raise the prices because the FDA approval for a competitor to go into production of it are so onerous. If they have the only plant currently licensed, it's probably 3 years before a competitor can start production - assuming no problems.

It's also going to cost a lot; the competitor has to recoup that from their profit margin when the drug goes to market, so for a drug with a limited market, the competitor might not be able to lower the price even when they are finally in production - and Valeant has long ago recouped their startup costs, so they can choose whether to match the prices of any later-starting competitor, or to undercut them. They also have the advantage of a known brand name, and the option of keeping sky-high prices and aggressively marketing their brand of the drug, to doctors who don't pay for what they prescribe, and to patients who can just pass the cost off to their insurance.

If insurance does cover those drugs, the rest of us pay for them. If it doesn't, you basically have a clerk at the insurance company practicing medicine...

And all this is enabled by the FDA's sluggish and over-cautious bureaucracy.