But one thing that was not frozen was the price of drugs.

但有個東西並沒有隨著寒冷的天氣而凍結，那就是藥價

In fact, on new year's day many of the largest drugmakers, including Pfizer, Allergan, and GlaxoSmithKline, raised the prices on thousands of products.

事實上，在元旦當天有不少大型藥商，包括輝瑞、愛力根、以及葛蘭素史克等，調漲了上千種藥品的價錢

Now these increases were not of the scale made famous by Martin Shkreli,

這些價格的調漲幅度和 Martin Shkreli 十分有名的那次調漲不同，

who once raised the price of a drug by more than 5000%.

他曾經將藥價調漲至原本價錢的 5000%

But they average around 10%, and they happen more or less every year.

但藥價的調漲幅度平均大約 10% ，且幾乎每年都會發生

And pricing campaigners are saying that they actually cost the healthcare system far more than the likes of Martin Shkreli.

制定價格戰略的人們表示這樣的調漲對於健康醫療體系所造成的影響，其實更勝 Martin Shkreli 的所作所為

Now some investors are starting to ask whether raising prices with such abandon is actually a bad move for the industry,

現在一部份的投資者開始質疑，像這樣放任價格上漲是否其實是企業方錯誤的舉動

given that the topic has become a hot potato for politicians.

鑑於這個議題已經成為政治家眼中的燙手山芋

Indeed, Donald Trump has accused the industry several times now of getting away with murder.

確實，唐納・川普曾數次指控企業沒有為此受到任何制裁

And Hillary Clinton made the issue a centrepiece of her presidential campaign.

而希拉蕊．柯林頓也將這件議題視為自己競選總統時的中心政策之一

Drugmakers say they need to raise prices, they have to protect their profits so they can spend more money researching new medicines.

藥廠表示他們必須抬高價格，他們必須去維護他們的利益，才能夠花更多錢來開發新的藥品

And they also claim that middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers,

他們也表示，中間人，也就是藥品福利管理部門的人，

are demanding ever greater rebates and pushing up the overall cost of drugs.

正不斷要求更多的回扣，並將製造藥物的成本抬高

Now that's going to provide scant consolation for the millions of patients who are going to pharmacies like the one behind me,

而這想必不會為即將前往藥局買藥的人們帶來任何安慰，例如我身後的這些人，

only to find out that the cost of medicines has gone up yet again.

他們只會發現自己購買藥品的花費又一次上升了