If the goal is to go after 'extremely profitable' companies, maybe we should be looking at tech companies, that are in fact, 'extremely profitable', unlike most pharma companies.
and for the record, I have zero love for pharma companies, or how they operate - but they are not - in general - 'extremely profitable' companies. Far from it.
I thought HN was better, focus on the actual problems and not let every discussion turn into a profit/capitalism = bad debate.
If that sounds too much like socialism for your taste, give rich people the option to buy additional services or restrict the public system to basic medical services and drugs and require private insurance on top for cutting-edge stuff.
Profit is a great thing, but it is not an end to itself. The point of liberal democratic societies is to guarantee basic rights for everyone, while constantly improving the welfare (which is not the same as wealth) of as many people as possible. Capitalism has made great contributions towards that goal, but it also contradicts it in several critical places and thus needs to be regulated where necessary.
One think I think worth mentioning is that there is a significant difference between price controls and purchasing controls. purchasing controls is simply refusing to buy if the price is too high, while price controls is mandating a miniumum or maximum price for X. nearly every successful medical system uses purchasing controls, not price controls.
IMO, one of the main reasons costs are out of control is a lack of purchasing controls.