Obviously all the Danes are not all fine upstanding radical leftists like almost everyone I know in Denmark!
If you've missed the proceedings, the upshot is that half of the expenditures for health care costs in the US these days goes for buying prescriptions of Ozempic, the new, extremely popular weight loss drug from Novo Nordisk. The reason it's so expensive is because the US government doesn't believe in regulating monopolies, and capitalism says charge whatever they'll pay -- it's basic supply and demand, after all.
Whatever They'll Pay
Novo Nordisk had a drug made for diabetes
That also worked to fight obesity
Its popularity spread from LA to Berlin
And elsewhere people wanted to lose their second chin
As it took up half the budget for health care in the country
Even in America folks began to see
There must be a limit to how much profit you can make
Before the whole thing breaks
But Lars, you're in luck, this is the USA
The land of “whatever they’ll pay”
Well that’s not really what he said in the Senate hearing
But when you examine the profits they are clearing
There’s no question at all this is the way they act
Because on the ground, those are the facts
The company grew into one of the biggest on the Earth
So much do Americans want to lose that girth
If there’s to be a red line, maybe it’s been crossed
Or is half the health care sector a reasonable cost
Novo Nordisk became beloved to a few
While in other circles the resentment grew and grew
The reality of the situation is such
In Europe they’re paying one-tenth as much
But here in the land where the market is free
For whoever can afford it at the pharmacy
Just come on in, Lars, and go for the kill
And you can just charge whatever you will
PNW tour starts today!
November in Europe and the northeast US
Plane tickets purchased. We land in Brussels on November 1. Then Brussels to Copenhagen November 8, Reykjavik November 24, then back to the US (Boston) November 27.
During that week in Belgium we probably have a free date to go somewhere else in the area. Lots of dates for more gigs in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. And potentially elsewhere in Europe if we hear from you very soon!
Whatever They'll Pay (Ballad of Lars Fruergaard Joergensen)