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Michela Dai Zovi

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Plastic, Copper, and the Hundred Thousand Percent Markup: How monopoly pricing has threatened contraceptive security and corrupted American medicine Paperback – November 27, 2014

by Michela Dai Zovi (Author)

4.6 5 ratings

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The copper intrauterine device (IUD) has been described as an “unsung, under-promoted success story,” and the “preferred device… on the basis of its efficacy, safety and long history of use,” and is often hailed as the “international gold standard” in contraceptives. It is arguably the safest, most reliable, and most economical contraceptive option for women. It is also, in its construction, little more than a sterilized piece of plastic and copper—albeit a very useful one. Despite costing only approximately $0.25 to produce, it can cost nearly $1,000 in the United States, compared to under $100 in Canada and Europe, close to $5 in other nations, and as low as $0.31 in Chile. This book explains circumstances unique to the United States which have allowed this kind of market failure and price discrimination to flourish, as well as consequently perpetuated inequality of opportunity, fiscal waste, compromises in medical safety, and restrictions to consumer freedom.

Print length

204 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 27, 2014
Dimensions

6 x 0.46 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1505523788
ISBN-13

978-1505523782
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 27, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 204 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1505523788
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1505523782
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.46 x 9 inches

Customer Reviews:
4.6 5 ratings

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Michela Dai Zovi

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Michela Dai Zovi loves learning and experiencing new things, and then using that to write and teach other people. Areas of interest include food, travel, and eating food while traveling (or traveling to eat food). Her most recent project is Bugs for Beginners, a cookbook which teaches newbies how to prepare edible insects.

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Caitlin Krause

A funny, scary

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

A funny, scary, in-depth look at systemic monopoly pricing of prescription medications in the United States. If you're upset about the epipen, it's just the tip if the iceberg. Even if you don't care about contraceptive availability, this model is applied to pharmaceuticals at every level. This is a very important book, one every American should read.

2 people found this helpful

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Todd Bradley

made me realize why Obamacare and the Republican replacement can never significantly bring down pharmaceutical costs

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

I learned a lot about the US health care system and what's wrong with it thanks to this book. I can't say that I know how to fix it; good thing that's not my responsibility. But I do recognize now that we can never really address rising costs of health care by focusing solely on insurance, which is what Obamacare and Trump's currently-failed attempt to replace it try to do. It doesn't really matter whether the government pays for my IUD, my private insurance company pays for my IUD, or I pay for my IUD out of my own pocket. As long as the manufacturer is allowed to use a government subsidized monopoly to inflate prices, it's still going to be expensive.

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2019

Yeah, this was a fantastic read. But I think Michela is too hard on herself by saying climate change, black lives, and other causes are more important. False. They are important, but when you crunch the numbers on this and realize that Roe v Wade controversy, regardless of your stance on the matter, could be essentially made a completely irrelevant debate for EVERY SINGLE WOMAN ALIVE ON PLANET EARTH for a fraction of the annual budget for Planned Parenthood, you suddenly realize how retarded we are all are.

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M. Dai Zovi

The market has failed in the case of American pharmaceuticals, and no one notices.

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2015

I wrote this book so of course I think it's the best in the world. Not really, there are more important issues to tackle-- climate change and the criminalization of black lives, for example. But if you're interested in finding out why medicine is so expensive in America, I explain it, and it's not as complex as you'd think. The short answer is, there's nothing to stop medicine from being sold at the highest price people are willing to pay for it, so of course that's what the suppliers do. If you want to see the specific data and references I cite to justify that statement, please read my book.

If someone wins a game by playing badly, don't get mad at the winner; change the rules You can't change the rules unless you understand them, which is what I'm trying to help people do. No one is going to give away their billion dollar honey pot without a fight.

5 people found this helpful

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Bob

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2015

A great expose on this subject!!

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