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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs
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To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (39752)12/18/2009 4:52:26 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 71588
 

Maybe, maybe not. (Remember: governments ALL OVER the world have very different laws on their books with regard to Patents. And who is to say that a 28 year patent grant is "supportive of free markets" but that an 18 year patent grant, or a 12 year patent grant is *not*?)

Irrelevant. The price controls and monopsony buying apply even to freshly invented drugs. I suppose you could counter with "who's to say 1 day patents, or no patents are not appropriate", but even then its not particularly relevant because the countries are NOT pushing a policy of no patents or ultra-short patents, but of price controls, monopsony buying, and/or political pressure and threats to lower prices.

As far as certain governments around the world (because they consider access to health care to be a citizen's BASIC RIGHT,

Someone can consider any nonsense to be a basic right. If they decide that not having American products withing 5 miles is a basic right does that mean that banning American products ceases to be a restraint of trade, and is instead just protecting rights?

"Access to basic health care" as a basic human/natural right, is utter nonsense, along with all other positive rights. Natural rights don't extent to the right to force others to do things for you. Freedom of speech/the press doesn't mean your rights are violated if you are not provided with a microphone or a printing press by the government.

But is that anything more then ANY big purchaser does? Use the power of your position as a big customer to negotiate for the best possible price you can get?

Yes it is different. The government controls the regulatory environment the market operates in. If the seller doesn't want to sell the drug to the government monopsony buyer at a price that buyer will accept, but will sell to individuals and individual doctors, the government can tell them to take a hike.

You where just decrying the power of monopolies, and even just oligopolies. Why are monopsonies and near monopsonies (oligopolies of buyers) so much better?
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