Those of you who support the government's involvement in health care -- and its refusal to prosecute clear, blatant, in-your-face price-fixing -- have a duty to explain and defend this:

A big concern for Baltimore and other cities is the price of naloxone, which has risen dramatically as demand has gone up. In February, the Baltimore City Health Department was paying about $20 a dose. By July, the price had climbed to nearly $40 a dose.

Oh by the way 10 years ago this drug, naloxone, cost one dollar a dose.

It's gone up in price by a factor of 40, with half of that rise taking place over less than six months.

Or take snake antivenom.  The price of the drug in the hospital is comprised of many things, but the cost of making the drug is only 0.1% of the total charge.  2.1% is the cost of clinical trials to prove the drug works.

The rest -- and the source of the outrageous bills -- is profit of some sort by someone, whether "imposed" via regulatory fiat or simply lining someone's pocket.

This is not nearly-irrefutable evidence of price-fixing and monopolist behavior -- that is, intentional suppression of competition?  Like hell it's not, and I remind you that such acts are supposed to be violations of the law, specifically 15 USC.

Why is it that we don't see drug company executives, along with hospital and other medical executives, looking like this?

Handcuffs