The American government has made attempt to reduce the cost of medication through Medicare, but at the same time the prices of many drugs rose and that offset the savings. As it turns out, overcharging for drugs may simply be standard industry practice.

Robert Pear writes in The New York Times:

[T]axpayer-supported hospitals, community health centers and clinics for people with AIDS are supposed to have access to the government's best prices for outpatient drugs. The investigators, at the inspector general's office in the Health and Human Services Department, found that prices charged to those agencies frequently exceeded the limits set by the Public Health Service Act. ... If the government detects evidence of overcharges, "it does not have the legislative, regulatory or contractual authority to effectively remedy the situation," George F. Grob, an assistant deputy inspector general, said. If the hospitals and clinics are not overcharged, Mr. Grob said, they could "serve more patients and improve the quality of service."

Amazing... drug manufacturers can overcharge for drugs, thus cheating the government, cheating the people, and denying some adequate medical care (because money runs out faster), but there are no means for punishing them for this. There are no fines, no jail time, no civil penalties. Did the drug makers creates these laws themselves or what? Who’s in charge around here and why aren’t they fulfilling their public responsibility?

Read More:

• Guide to Ethics and Morality
• News About Ethics
• Bioethics