If you live in the US, you pay too much for prescription drugs

Why does the US pay more for prescription drugs than any other country? Monopolies and a government that can't negotiate, scientists said in a paper that may provide ammunition for lawmakers aiming to lower drug costs.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School dug through medical and health policy papers published in the last ten years to figure out why people in the US spent almost twice as much on prescription drugs in 2013 compared to 19 other industrialized nations — and why prices are still going up. They found that FDA regulations and patents protect drug companies from competition, and federal law prevents Medicare from negotiating drug prices. All of which work together to allow drug companies to set their own prices, according to...