An interesting idea from Elizabeth Warren
Letting the government manufacture some prescription drugs to bring costs down.
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Today, 40 percent of generic drugs are made by a single company, and the majority are manufactured by only one or two companies . With so little competition for generics, drug makers can push up prices and squeeze consumers without consequence. As a result, prescription drug prices are crushing families. Millions of Americans are skipping required doses and putting their health at risk because they can’t afford to renew their prescriptions.
Promoting competition used to be a central goal of economic policymaking. Today, in market after market, competition is dying as a handful of giant companies gain more and more market share. And as these companies get bigger, they create a vicious cycle, spending millions more on politics and lobbying to rig the rules, crushing potential competitors and further insulating themselves from legal or market accountability.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Aggressive enforcement of laws protecting competition is just the beginning. In the prescription drug market, the next step should be public manufacturing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/elizabeth-warren-its-time-to-let-the-government-manufacture-generic-drugs/2018/12/17/66bc0fb0-023f-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html?utm_term=.233772878329&wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1
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Elizabeth & Bernie 2020!!!
The Defense Department selects manufacturers to make all manner of equipment, often on competitive contracts that are intended to force down costs. Profits are negotiated (they call them "fees"
. Often the fees are in the 3% range. The also have "firm fixed price" contracts that give incentives to drive down costs. You can be the "inventor" of something but the DoD can ultimately take it away from you and give it to another company. About all you may get is a royalty fee of some sort.