2025-10-07
6 分钟The Economist. Hi, this is Charlotte Howard,
one of the hosts of Checks and Balance, our U.S. podcast.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
Here's an article we recommend from the latest edition of The Economist.
We hope you enjoy it.
Few things infuriate Americans as much as drug prices.
Republicans and Democrats alike agree that poorly patients are being ripped off by greedy farmer firms.
They point to the fact that America's list prices for branded drugs are,
on average, more than four times those in other rich countries.
Donald Trump agrees with them and he is set out to do something about it.
He has asked drug makers to cut their prices to most favored nation levels,
that is, to the cheapest price out there.
If they don't, he says,
he will use every tool in our arsenal against what he calls abusive drug pricing.
But the President's battle to bring down prices is doomed to fail.
Indeed, it could even make healthcare in America worse.
Anyone familiar with the country's Byzantine health system knows that inefficiencies and rents abound.
Yet these tend to be concentrated not among drug makers but further along the supply chain.
Our analysis of 220 listed healthcare firms finds that three-fifths of the excess profits defined as those that are above a 10% return on capital are taken by others.
including hospitals and middlemen, such as insurers, distributors and pharmacy benefit managers.