In America, we are use to the fact that such fundamental needs such as water, electricity, natural gas, postal services, public roadways, public lights, and so on are regulated by some form of governmental agency, whether local, regional, State, or National. It certainly makes sense that, for instance, our electricity is regulated as a public utility because life in this modern era would be totally different and even problematic without reliable as well as fairly priced electricity, because it is part and parcel of our everyday lives.
When it comes to healthcare, and especially to medical prescriptions and pharmaceuticals of all types, America is an outlier in regards to how other western nations address such, of which, America takes the rather strange position, of believing that the best way to regulate this market, is simply to approve or not approve certain drugs after being federally reviewed, and thereafter essentially allow the marketplace, or the seller of such pharmaceuticals to charge what the market will bear for their prescription drugs. That ostensible reason why this is so, is for the recovery of research and development monies by those companies, as well as to help augment innovative drug discoveries, by allowing these companies the opportunity to develop what will perhaps be a blockbuster drug that is of utility to the consumers of such, as well as a boost to the bottom line of these companies.
The fundamental flaw within the current structure of prescription drugs within America, is that the pursuit of profit at the expense of a given person's health, is of questionable ethics, for the construct in which America operates, seems to be that prescription drugs are just one more commodity that the rich or the well insured should be able to procure, whereas the poor and the non- or weakly insured, just have to deal with it, and suffer therefore the ill consequences of their weak position. Further, it is rather unseemly for drugs to be priced at what the market will bear, which stipulates in that perverse mindset, that profits are more important, than the health of the people.
A far better way to deal with medical prescriptions is for such to be regulated, much akin to a public utility, in which fairness to the public in whole, as well as accessibility to all members of the public, are necessary to be mandated for something as vital as the good health of the people. The fact that today's medical drugs are not regulated as a public utility -- signifies that America has taken a very large step back, from the pathway it previously took for national immunizations that are required for infants, which is for the health of not just those infants, but for the protection of the good health of society, at large.
Those large medical corporations that claim that they are working on behalf of the public, and that their prescription drug prices are fairly priced -- are remiss in not acknowledging that they are required to answer to their Board of Directors, as well as to the stockholders of their company, who are always demanding bigger profits, and higher gross margins; so to believe that they are therefore operating in the public interest is a chimera. The health of Americans is something too important to be left to for-profit companies that currently operate outside the domain, of being regulated as a public utility, which essentially makes their business model, one that puts their lust of profit above good, fair, and affordable drug prescription prices.