Regarding universal pharmacare, I will admit I have not listened to those interviews nor do I have all the information. So maybe these questions have been answered but my two initial concerns with a universal program are:
1. the assumption that my current private plan through work will go down in price if drug costs are shifted to the taxpayer from the plan subscriber. I am skeptical of this, it has not happened with regulated dental fees so I do not have confidence it will happen with drug costs. At the end of the day I suspect my current plan cost will remain and in addition taxes will increase to pay for the universal plan. My overall cost will end up going up not down.
2. just because we could negotiate in bulk for lower drug prices does not mean drug companies will be willing to enter into contracts at those lower prices. It's possible they will elect to sell elsewhere where they can get higher prices with the result being a potential shortage and/or reduced access to new drugs or popular ones.
I'd be interested in seeing the research on these two topics.
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