the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jul 13, 2020
Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company worth $95 billion on the stock market, has decided what price it will charge in the U.S. for Remdesivir. Remdesivir is the drug given to lessen the severity of the COVID-19 disease that has now killed at least 130,000 people in the U.S.
People using health insurance will be charged $3,120 for the treatment of six doses. People using Medicare or Medicaid will be charged “only” $2,340 per course of six doses. In reality, it means all of us will pay in higher premiums for so-called private insurers. And Medicare and Medicaid will “charge” the population by having millions of dollars less to spend in other categories of care.
To pass on ever more profit to its shareholders and investment companies, Gilead will screw the entire world, since it is going to charge the $2,340 in Europe as well.
In a crisis without solution, a private company puts profit before life.