The EpiPen Auto Injector helps people all across the world who suffer from allergies by injecting epinephrine into the user’s body. Mylan, EpiPen’s owner, marked up prices at 15% intervals since 2007, which now comfortably rest at $608 for a two pack.

People criticize Mylan for the markup, saying it hurts users who need the product, but cannot afford it; they link the markup to corporate greed in America. However, Mylan’s decision actually reflects amazing business skills. Mylan marked up prices to increase revenue because they only make a tiny percentage of money for each sale.

Along with the raised prices, Mylan now offers a generic epipen for half price. The generic version comes straight from Mylan, meaning they receive 100% of the profits. Depending on shipping, Mylan could in fact make about $28 more than selling the regular EpiPen.

From a business standpoint, Mylan did the right thing. In America, Obamacare has made government-funded healthcare a normal thing since 2010. Currently around 11.4 million citizens of the United States use Obamacare. This means the government pays for citizen’s health care, so no matter the price of products, the government still covers the cost. With such a significant change in the healthcare industry and the natural market almost removed because of Obamacare, why not raise the prices? Mylan even directly said that this contributed to why they so dramatically raised the price. Mylan took the opportunity with no repercussions.

“The price hike of [epipens] really doesn’t mean much, especially considering the other problems in the country” sophomore Zach Boyer said, “It really seems very miniscule.”

With the generic version coming for half the price, those who can not pay the current price of $608 can rest easily and depend on the insurance that already covered the product.