[Aurornis]

> where even the cheapest and most proven drugs are exorbitantly expensive?

New, on-patent drugs are expensive.

Most proven, older drugs are actually pretty cheap.

The most commonly prescribed drugs in America like atorvastatin, lisinopril, and levothyroxine are all less than $10 without insurance at your local Walmart or Walgreens.

A lot of people are shocked to learn that most SSRIs and common (unscheduled) psych meds can be had for as little as $4/month cash pay at Walmart. Even insulin (excluding newest patented analogs) is $25/vial cash pay at Walmart. They’re starting to introduce cheap analogs, too, as patents run out.

And that’s my point: All of these medications were once extremely expensive, and now they’re cheap. Being expensive at launch doesn’t mean expensive forever.