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Despite all the disgust with pharmaceutical price gouging and the public shaming of CEOs like Heather Bresch of EpiPen infamy and “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli, we’ve yet to see any concrete steps to actually cut drug prices. Now California voters can take matters, and their health, into their own hands - and set a national model by passing Proposition 61 in November. (Deborah Burger, 10/6)

Proposition 61 would prohibit the state from entering into contracts for prescription drugs unless the prices are the same or lower than the special discounts provided to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA found that Proposition 61 could increase costs to the VA by $3.8 billion a year. If that happens, there will be pressure to either cut services or pass the higher costs on to veterans. (Don Harper, 10/11)

As public outrage has erupted over a 500 percent price increase for life-saving EpiPens and a $1,000-per-pill cost for the most effective hepatitis C treatment, the pharmaceutical industry appears to be beyond shame. Even the price of generic drugs is skyrocketing; nearly 400 had increases of more than 1,000 percent the past seven years. Transparency is not enough. It’s long past time to cut drug prices to rein in an arrogant drug cartel that will always put its profits above public health and safety. (Kathy Dennis, 10/11)

Big Pharma has proven itself to be interested more in profit than the public good. If drug companies are not willing to reduce their costs significantly, it may be time to nationalize the industry. Life-saving drugs should not be the purview of an industry that cares not whether patients live or die but is more interested in the almighty dollar. (Jack Ohman, 10/9)

We all have read about Mylan hiking the price of its lifesaving epinephrine injector, EpiPen, by 400 percent, about “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli increasing a critical toxoplasmosis drug’s price 5,000 percent overnight, and about the prostate cancer medicine developed with U.S. taxpayer funds that was sold back to the Medicare program at $100,000 per patient. The pharmaceutical industry, the world’s top spender effectively has derailed nearly every attempt to reform its practices as proposed in state legislatures and Congress. California voters have a chance to change all that. (Suzanne Gordon and Fran Quigley, 10/10)

List prices for all medicines are subject to various discounts and rebates often negotiated by insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers, and the actual cost can be lower. But a study by Bloomberg found that even after discounts, we pay more in the U.S. for common medicines like Crestor (high cholesterol), Lantus (insulin), Advair (asthma), Januvia (diabetes), Humira (rheumatoid arthritis) and Herceptin (breast cancer) than in most other countries in the study, including Australia, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, Brazil, India, Russia, Morocco and several European countries. The role of intermediaries like insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers in our health care system makes it very difficult for doctors and patients to know the true price of medicine. (Jonathan Fielding, 10/5)

Given its name, you’d expect the federal 340B Drug Discount Program to save money for the American health system. When it comes to cancer, though, it’s actually a major driver increasing costs, according to a report from the Community Oncology Alliance. The program was created in 1992 to financially support so-called safety net hospitals that provide charity care to poor and underserved patients. ... But “creative uses” of 340B have contributed to increasing the cost of cancer care, boosted revenues for hospitals (which charge more for cancer care than community oncology practices), and expanded the use of hospital outpatient cancer services. (Debra Patt, 10/7)

Norway is an expensive place to live where a Big Mac costs $5.65 and a gallon of gasoline more than $6. But one thing is far cheaper than in the U.S.; prescription drugs. (Joseph B. Steinman, 10/11)