”The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the Healthcare Institute of the Netherlands decide what drugs fall under the standard health insurance package
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The Netherlands and Belgium are going to jointly negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Together, the two countries represent a larger group of patients. This will make it easier for them to negotiate lower prices with drug companies. They will especially try to negotiate lower prices for expensive medicines, including orphan drugs which are used to treat rare diseases.“
Not everywhere. It’s miles away from what people in the USA think they want, but governments can intervene on behalf of patients. https://www.government.nl/topics/medicines/keeping-medicines...:
”The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the Healthcare Institute of the Netherlands decide what drugs fall under the standard health insurance package […] The Netherlands and Belgium are going to jointly negotiate lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Together, the two countries represent a larger group of patients. This will make it easier for them to negotiate lower prices with drug companies. They will especially try to negotiate lower prices for expensive medicines, including orphan drugs which are used to treat rare diseases.“
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