I live in Canada. We believe that a modern society has as one of its basic human rights the medical care of its citizens. I know I am going to be inundated by rebuttals because the wealthy pharmaceutical companies as well as the wealthy hospital companies as well as -- especially -- the insurance companies have carried on a ceaseless campaign to convince people that looking after the underprivileged in the state is evil and it is "socialism" and it is ba-a-ad. As was outlined about ten years ago, a single-payer medical system is better able to control costs than an out-of-control private profit-based system. Staistically, Canada pays out a lower percentage of its GNP for medical care than most if not all industrialized nations. Why? Because insurance companies promote extravagance because their profits are predicated on their paid-out claims. Any controls at all are easily corrupted and the song goes on. Every once in a while a TV investigative team highlights the abuses and the resultant grief suffered by those least able to bear it. Ho-hum. Of course the underlying reasons for the ever-higher costs of medical care and pharmaceuticals is due to the ever-emergent new and expensive treatments, calling for higher and higher costs. And only a single-pay system can control those costs, IMHO. Cost of pharmaceuticals in Canada is 25% of the regular price (which apparently is already lower than USA) with a monthly maximum, after which there is absolutely no charge. Being 62, I pay a maximum of $62.99 per month and after age 65, it will drop by a third or a half. And that is in Cdn$, which are only worth 63¢ at the moment. Yes indeed, it may be an evil system and can lead to a healthier population but we like it... (...running and ducking!) ,\\urray .-. .-. / \ .-. .-. / \ / \ / \ .-. .-. / \ / \ /__Murray_Kastner_____\_____/___\___/___\____ mailto:[log in to unmask] \ / \ / `-' \ / \ / \ \ / `-' `-' \ / `-' `-' >Linda & Michael and everybody else: > >Pricing of drugs can be presented in moral terms, i.e. one can advocate >there should be social justice and everybody has a right to the proper and >most efficacious drugs. Unfortunately the real world does work like this. >There will always be shades of gray. Can everybody have a Rolls Royce and a >10,000 square foot house? In looking at the price of drugs one can argue >they are too high for many people. As was pointed out here and in the media >the cost of developing drugs is very high. So, a more realistic question is >to ask where is the money from the sale of drugs going? Are the profits of >the drug companies excessive (especially when compared to those of other >businesses)? If they are then the governments can do something about it ( >by creating rules like those in Europe). But if they are not other >mechanisms must be found to pay for them. These mechanisms would be >insurance plans or government actions. There is a hidden uncertainty in >this: What is the proper allocation of resources for medical activities. >The society as a whole needs to decide how much for various activities >needs to be spent. Defence, Infrastructure (roads), medical, etc. > >It is unfortunately true that for new drugs the relevant companies have a >monopoly which allows them to charge essentially anything, without bounds. >But why have established drugs for which the development cost has long been >paid off have risen as well, above the rate of inflation? >A simple answer again is to ask: are the drug company profits excessive? I >think if they are we would all be buying Drug Company stocks. > >So what is the answer? The first is to streamline and make more efficient >the development process. The second is to find a way to distribute the >load. This is what insurance companies do now in collaboration with >employers (in a rather ineffective and inefficient way). Unfortunately the >cost of medical activities has risen steeply recently and shows very little >sign of slowing down. In fact Carline (the PWP) recently has gotten kicked >out of an Aetna HMO because their costs have risen too steeply, so oops, >here goes her plan. > >Should medical care be free enterprise based or should there be a >government based system. The latter tend to be inefficient and cumbersome >and the former have unaffordable prices. We need somebody to design a >system. Maybe something like a constitutional convention (similar in >concept of the framers of the constitution) is needed. > >For those who favor "free enterprise" and who argue that it works in the >US, I would point out that in all such systems there are (government and >Legal) controls, so that in some sense there is no such thing as "free >enterprise" it is always only more or less free. The other observable fact >in the US is that the system as it is practiced now has increased the gap >between rich and poor and the gap is larger than in many other >industrialized countries. So maybe the thing we need to go after is >equalization. > >K-F cg Carline > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] >In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn -- .-. .-. / \ .-. .-. / \ / \ / \ .-. .-. / \ / \ /__Murray_Kastner_____\_____/___\___/___\____ mailto:[log in to unmask] \ / \ / `-' \ / \ / \ \ / `-' `-' \ / `-' `-' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn