[ExI] Why is “cost of living” such a big problem?

[John Clark]

On Thu, Nov 5, 2026 at 5:43 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:


*> Medicine does cost a lot more in the USA, *


*Yes, a LOT more.*

*> for reasons we already established:*


*No, you have never done that.  *


* > the cost of the research and qualification must be paid back.  *


*But you have never coherently explained why US citizens and US
citizens ALONE must pay for the ENTIRE research and development costs of
every drug in existence, even though they are only 4% of the world's
population. And even if the US had nothing to do with the R&D or
manufacturer of the drug! *

*Take the weight reducing drug Wegovy for example, the researched
development for it was NOT made by US scientists, it was discovered by
DANISH scientists in DENMARK who worked for the DANISH drug company Novo
Nordisk which manufactures the drug in DENMARK. So I asked GPT the
following question: *

*ME: How does the cost of Wegovy in the USA compare to its cost in Canada
and Denmark?*

*GPT: *Wegovy is *considerably more expensive in the United States than in
Canada or Denmark**.* The difference can be substantial, particularly for
someone paying out of pocket rather than using insurance.There is an
important distinction between the drug distributors list price, the price
pharmacies actually charge, and the price patients pay after insurance or
government subsidies.

      Monthly cost comparison (November 2026)

The following compares the injectable 2.4 mg maintenance dose, the standard
full dose for weight loss.

Country

Approximate monthly price in US dollars

United States – regular list price

$1,349

United States – manufacturer cash price

 $349

Canada – pharmacy cash price

$270–$410

Denmark – pharmacy cash price

$350–$360
The* American list price is almost four times the Danish price and roughly
four to five times the Canadian price*. This is a good illustration of how
dramatically pharmaceutical pricing differs between countries, even when
the medication is manufactured by the same company. The difference isn't
primarily the cost of manufacturing the drug.* It reflects differences in
national drug-pricing systems, insurance arrangements, and pharmaceutical
bargaining power.*

*John K Clark*




>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20261106/231d78d4/attachment.htm>