Why all the uproar about drug prices? The answer: humans. People feel differently about drugs, and many other health care products, than they do about the myriad other things that get bought and sold, without controversy, in normal markets. Lots of Americans are just deeply uncomfortable with the idea that other humans could die or suffer needlessly because they couldn’t afford a pill -- just a little pill, for heaven’s sake! -- that could have made them better. (Some also really resent apparent profiteering by companies exploiting an unfair edge, but that is a slightly different issue.) When it comes to life, death, and suffering, many Americans act as if they think market efficiency is less important than caring for others.
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