Oh, hell...

State Sells Two-Thirds of Pharmacies

On Tuesday, the Swedish government officially announced that it is to sell two-thirds of its 900 state-owned pharmacies. By abolishing the state monopoly in this sector, the centre-right government intends to increase competition on the pharmaceutical market – which eventually should lead to lower drug prices. But the opposition fears that abolishing the state monopoly will merely lead to oligopolies by a few private competitors.

Via: SR Engelska

I'm really afraid Swedes don't understand what they've given up here. Speaking as someone who has seen, firsthand, what Big Pharma can do to a medical system, how totally corrupting its influence can be, I worry that Sweden may have put an already shaky health care system into mortal jeopardy. It's not just the Apoteks, but everything connected to them that will become the target of that awful machine. As for the argument that it will lower prices, all one has to do is look to America to see the fallacy in that. Without being condescending, I really wonder if Swedes have any notion of how low their drug costs already are. People go bankrupt in the United States paying for medicine. Is that what we want here?