Comment by hn_throwaway_99

Well, at least that one I understand. That is, other countries have much stricter pricing controls on medications, while the US does not. So pharmaceutical companies argue that it's essentially the US that makes drug discovery worth it - they basically say that if the US had strict price controls too, then it means that drugs research wouldn't be viable to invest in in the first place. Not at all arguing that's true (I don't know), and even if it is true it just means the American customer for those medications is carrying the load for everyone else, which besides just being unfair doesn't seem sustainable in the long term.

But again, at least that one I theoretically understand. PBMs make no sense to me whatsoever.