Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

I just saw Sicko. It was actually somewhat entertaining, and I must admit I'm moving into the school of thought that health care is a right. More importantly though, regardless of what you think of Michael Moore or Universal Health Care, I think a scenario presented throughout the movie is a valid cause for concern.

Basically, if you're middle or upper middle class what is the play in the event of some insanely expensive long term illness, which doesnt kill you immediately, but requires hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical care in the interim. Now, clearly if you're in Canada/UK/all other industrialized nations, you get your care via the government health plan, and thus not go broke (excepting money you lose if you can't work). What do you do in america? I have health insurance, but I'm imagining they would stop paying at some point, so I'll be forced to go broke until I can be declared indigent? In the mean time of course, my family suffers as well, has no money, etc. because of something out of our control.

Anyway, I'm sure the more financially sophisticated posters of the EL D forum have a plan in mind, and I'm hoping you can share it.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

I have a feeling one way or another you get taken care of. You get rid of all your $$ before the insurance runs out, then you wind of up on disability/medicaid whatever and your health ins. is covered.

The interesting thing to me is that when you talk to people from other Western countries that you think are more socialist or whatever, actually in the long run things end up running about the same.

IE in Sweden someone making about $80k/yr is taxed 45%, max tax is 50%. Here it's 38%/38% at that level. Not *that* gigantic of a difference.

In Canada you get universal healthcare but it is slow and kind of sucks. Rich people have a way around this. In the US anyone with decent insurance gets pretty close to rich people care. Poor people have to wait in line and get crappy care, but they don't get turned away. In LA, anyone who's poor gets on a Blue Cross HMO and has pretty sweet care. In Cuba I'm sure it sucks for the most part unless you're "rich" by whatever standard they use.

I'm just saying things are often not as different as you think. I'm all for universal health care here, as I think the biggest problem with our system is people who are afraid to go to work and lose their state-covered health care. My friend has diabetes. She got a job with a small company and her health insurance was going to be like 3/4 of her salary. That's nuts.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

I'm going to try and address the question and avoid a political debate.

If you are rich enough to have to worry about your described scenario, then you can afford insurance that doesn't have a cap on payments.

If you don't have that kind of policy, and are diagnosed with such an illness and would rather your family get your cash instead of the hospital then YSSCKY.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
Now, clearly if you're in Canada/UK/all other industrialized nations, you get your care via the government health plan, and thus not go broke (excepting money you lose if you can't work).

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately, it's not always this simple. One of the problems with Sicko is that it does not touch on the rationing of healthcare that is necessary under any government system. If you think that once you get sick under a socialized system you will be getting your ideal treatments to make you well (or keep you less un-well) then you may have a surprise in store. The system may not allow certain treatments, or you may wait a long time for certain aspects of your treatment. In the U.S., if you have a good insurance plan, you may be completely covered. If you are on disability or government assistance, your care may not be worse than what you would get in a socialized system. If you are somewhere in between, you may be screwed.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm all for universal health care here, as I think the biggest problem with our system is people who are afraid to go to work and lose their state-covered health care.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only pregnant mothers and seniors have state-covered health care. Everyone else can go to the ER, hospital will bill them, and then never collect (IF the person doesn't have money). Health care for these people is subsidized by paying customers. "40Million people without healthcare" is a myth. 40million people may not be covered by insurance, but they surely wont be denied care, its against the law.

[ QUOTE ]
My friend has diabetes. She got a job with a small company and her health insurance was going to be like 3/4 of her salary. That's nuts.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's life. At least the company was willing to cover 25%.

My stepdaughter has Type I diabetes and all care is paid out of pocket.


Emergency Care IS a right by law in the U.S. (which has bankrupted some hospitals.)

Rich people get better care than poor people just like they get better automobiles.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm all for universal health care here, as I think the biggest problem with our system is people who are afraid to go to work and lose their state-covered health care.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only pregnant mothers and seniors have state-covered health care. Everyone else can go to the ER, hospital will bill them, and then never collect (IF the person doesn't have money). Health care for these people is subsidized by paying customers. "40Million people without healthcare" is a myth. 40million people may not be covered by insurance, but they surely wont be denied care, its against the law.


[/ QUOTE ]

You're talking out of your ass. In CA people on welfare are covered. But it's administered by county. In LA it's like an HMO. Some counties like Santa Barbara it sucks a lot worse. My friend has gotten $150k worth of eye surgeries at UCLA eye center because she's indigent and disabled (although not enough to get disabilty [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]) in LA County.


[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My friend has diabetes. She got a job with a small company and her health insurance was going to be like 3/4 of her salary. That's nuts.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's life. At least the company was willing to cover 25%.


[/ QUOTE ]

Where do you get that? The company wasn't covering squat. Her premium was 75% of her salary. Large companies often cover a lot of the premium, small companies don't have to. I think after 6 months her insurance would go down substantially though.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
One of the problems with Sicko is that it does not touch on the rationing of healthcare that is necessary under any government system.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hate to break it to you but we ration healthcare in the US. We just do it in the most draconian fashion possible. We base it on means.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm all for universal health care here, as I think the biggest problem with our system is people who are afraid to go to work and lose their state-covered health care.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only pregnant mothers and seniors have state-covered health care. Everyone else can go to the ER, hospital will bill them, and then never collect (IF the person doesn't have money). Health care for these people is subsidized by paying customers. "40Million people without healthcare" is a myth. 40million people may not be covered by insurance, but they surely wont be denied care, its against the law.

[/ QUOTE ]

ER Care is not sufficient care for tons of patients. Sure if you're shot, ER care will definitely be sufficient in trying to save your life. If someone has diabetes or other chronic illnesses, they won't be covered for prescription drugs, for example.

As for the OP, most healthcare packages cover high yearly medical expenses with little extra cost to the beneficiary. Once again, the problem resides with people who do not have access to private health insurance.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

I dont see how healthcare is a basic human right. Taking from one group of people and giving to another is socialism. The USA was built on capitalism not socialism.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
I dont see how healthcare is a basic human right. Taking from one group of people and giving to another is socialism. The USA was built on capitalism not socialism.

[/ QUOTE ]
All due respect, this is a really dumb opinion. One might say that the USA was built on the backs of African slaves, stolen from Native Americans, and layered over the corpses of immigrant laborers. Using reductio ad absurdum on your argument would leave us with a government that doesn't tax anyone for anything and does nothing. Hey, wait a minute...

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One of the problems with Sicko is that it does not touch on the rationing of healthcare that is necessary under any government system.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hate to break it to you but we ration healthcare in the US. We just do it in the most draconian fashion possible. We base it on means.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm well aware that health care is currently rationed based on money. Just pointing out that the "Free Universal Health Care for All!" bit is a complete exaggeration at best.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I dont see how healthcare is a basic human right. Taking from one group of people and giving to another is socialism. The USA was built on capitalism not socialism.

[/ QUOTE ]
All due respect, this is a really dumb opinion. One might say that the USA was built on the backs of African slaves, stolen from Native Americans, and layered over the corpses of immigrant laborers. Using reductio ad absurdum on your argument would leave us with a government that doesn't tax anyone for anything and does nothing. Hey, wait a minute...

[/ QUOTE ]

there was no socialised healthcare in this country for over 200 years. If more and more things start becoming human rights then people will pay 100% of their money to taxes and the goverment can give us each a stipend to live on.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to try and address the question and avoid a political debate.

If you are rich enough to have to worry about your described scenario, then you can afford insurance that doesn't have a cap on payments.

If you don't have that kind of policy, and are diagnosed with such an illness and would rather your family get your cash instead of the hospital then YSSCKY.

[/ QUOTE ]

I appreciate you avoiding the political debate, as that wasnt the purpose of my post. We have what we have in the USA; I was simply trying to figure out what people in the know have in place preparing for medical disaster.

As for me, I'm not rich, but I wouldnt want every bit of my money to go to medical care. My policy caps out for payments at a million. So basically, any serious illness could eat that up quick; then I go broke. So I'm looking for alternatives that preferably wouldnt involve suicide.
By the way, how much do policies with no caps cost?

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to try and address the question and avoid a political debate.

If you are rich enough to have to worry about your described scenario, then you can afford insurance that doesn't have a cap on payments.

If you don't have that kind of policy, and are diagnosed with such an illness and would rather your family get your cash instead of the hospital then YSSCKY.

[/ QUOTE ]

I appreciate you avoiding the political debate, as that wasnt the purpose of my post. We have what we have in the USA; I was simply trying to figure out what people in the know have in place preparing for medical disaster.

As for me, I'm not rich, but I wouldnt want every bit of my money to go to medical care. My policy caps out for payments at a million. So basically, any serious illness could eat that up quick; then I go broke. So I'm looking for alternatives that preferably wouldnt involve suicide.
By the way, how much do policies with no caps cost?

[/ QUOTE ]

A one million dollar cap is pretty high. 1 million in medical expenses is very high and it's pretty rare this threshold is reached. However, caps on insurance, especially lower caps, are a major problem in the US health care system as many people are uninformed that their plan has a cap and if you do hit your cap, you are pretty much screwed.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
I dont see how healthcare is a basic human right. Taking from one group of people and giving to another is socialism.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
there was no socialised healthcare in this country for over 200 years. If more and more things start becoming human rights then people will pay 100% of their money to taxes and the goverment can give us each a stipend to live on.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

It is inconsistent to believe that everyone has the right to decent healthcare and to also believe that anyone has the right to million dollar healthcare.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to try and address the question and avoid a political debate.

If you are rich enough to have to worry about your described scenario, then you can afford insurance that doesn't have a cap on payments.

If you don't have that kind of policy, and are diagnosed with such an illness and would rather your family get your cash instead of the hospital then YSSCKY.

[/ QUOTE ]

I appreciate you avoiding the political debate, as that wasnt the purpose of my post. We have what we have in the USA; I was simply trying to figure out what people in the know have in place preparing for medical disaster.

As for me, I'm not rich, but I wouldnt want every bit of my money to go to medical care. My policy caps out for payments at a million. So basically, any serious illness could eat that up quick; then I go broke. So I'm looking for alternatives that preferably wouldnt involve suicide.
By the way, how much do policies with no caps cost?

[/ QUOTE ]

A one million dollar cap is pretty high. 1 million in medical expenses is very high and it's pretty rare this threshold is reached. However, caps on insurance, especially lower caps, are a major problem in the US health care system as many people are uninformed that their plan has a cap and if you do hit your cap, you are pretty much screwed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had a policy with a 2M cap through a small company who paid half the premium. Total premium was <$400/month

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm all for universal health care here, as I think the biggest problem with our system is people who are afraid to go to work and lose their state-covered health care.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only pregnant mothers and seniors have state-covered health care. Everyone else can go to the ER, hospital will bill them, and then never collect (IF the person doesn't have money). Health care for these people is subsidized by paying customers. "40Million people without healthcare" is a myth. 40million people may not be covered by insurance, but they surely wont be denied care, its against the law.


[/ QUOTE ]

You're talking out of your ass. In CA people on welfare are covered. But it's administered by county. In LA it's like an HMO. Some counties like Santa Barbara it sucks a lot worse. My friend has gotten $150k worth of eye surgeries at UCLA eye center because she's indigent and disabled (although not enough to get disabilty [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]) in LA County.


[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My friend has diabetes. She got a job with a small company and her health insurance was going to be like 3/4 of her salary. That's nuts.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's life. At least the company was willing to cover 25%.


[/ QUOTE ]

Where do you get that? The company wasn't covering squat. Her premium was 75% of her salary. Large companies often cover a lot of the premium, small companies don't have to. I think after 6 months her insurance would go down substantially though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, you are correct. The socialist PRC does have state/county health care (for now). Most do not.

Apologies, I misread. I thought they were paying 75% of her premium. Insurance is not inexpensive. There are ways to make it cheaper:

1. Increase the supply of insurance companies (by encouraging competition, instead of protecting the industry through legislation)

2. Increase the supply of doctors (through education and immigration).

State sponsored anything costs on average 3x what deregulated anything costs.(you can find citation on CATO)

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

Emperor,

Increasing the supply of doctors is unlikely to decrease the price of health care. Doctor reimbursements are generally not set by the physician, they are imposed by Medicare/insurance. Also, with plenty of physicians in financial binds already due to malpractice costs and declining overall reimbursements (particularly primary care providers) you are unlikely to find a large number of people who want to be physicians who have been denied the opportunity unless you lower standards for admission or take a large number of foreign physicians.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

If people would get their priorities straight, and rather than buy crap they dont need, and use it for health care we wouldn't be debating this. IMO, denying people of means from health care (like they do in other countries) is the biggest [censored] crime in history. My solution would be to convince some of the big retail stores, to work out a deal with health care providers, basically they provide free health care for any of their employees in lieu of pay, dollar for dollar health care, it wouldnt be any more expensive if the govt provided tax breaks for the companies, and the rest of us who arent morons and get have their priorities straight dont have to worry about getting our hard earned dollars stolen from us.


oh ya, completely streamline teh system, make malpractice suits almost non-existent (tough, [censored] happens imo) unless it was REALLY negligent.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
All due respect, this is a really dumb opinion. One might say that the USA was built on the backs of African slaves, stolen from Native Americans, and layered over the corpses of immigrant laborers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here we go again. The hate America crowd comes forward. Every country has taken over land, and fought for land, so get over it. Oh, and those, "corpses of immigrant laborers" CAME HERE VOLUNTARILY. Try picking up a history book.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
Emperor,

Increasing the supply of doctors is unlikely to decrease the price of health care. Doctor reimbursements are generally not set by the physician, they are imposed by Medicare/insurance. Also, with plenty of physicians in financial binds already due to malpractice costs and declining overall reimbursements (particularly primary care providers) you are unlikely to find a large number of people who want to be physicians who have been denied the opportunity unless you lower standards for admission or take a large number of foreign physicians.

[/ QUOTE ]

You & guids make good points about the malpractice insurance. There are solutions.

1. In my state, Ohio, Malpractice insurance is not required by law. Some doctors then hide their personal property in LLC's or Trusts and are virtually lawsuit proof. (not really a good solution imo)

2. Somehow stop letting juries award multimillion dollar judgements because they feel sorry for the plaintiff and their family, EVEN though there was NO malpractice. (I don't really like artificial caps on judgements, but it seems to be an interim solution)

This is a good point, EVERYONE wants to complain about how expensive health insurance is to purchase, but hardly anyone complains about how expensive malpractice insurance is.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
If people would get their priorities straight, and rather than buy crap they dont need, and use it for health care we wouldn't be debating this. IMO, denying people of means from health care (like they do in other countries) is the biggest [censored] crime in history. My solution would be to convince some of the big retail stores, to work out a deal with health care providers, basically they provide free health care for any of their employees in lieu of pay, dollar for dollar health care, it wouldnt be any more expensive if the govt provided tax breaks for the companies, and the rest of us who arent morons and get have their priorities straight dont have to worry about getting our hard earned dollars stolen from us.


oh ya, completely streamline teh system, make malpractice suits almost non-existent (tough, [censored] happens imo) unless it was REALLY negligent.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you and others in the thread who are alarmed about health care being considered a human right and socialism propose to deal with health care for children without health insurance? Is it just tough luck for them, just as if they were adults?

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If people would get their priorities straight, and rather than buy crap they dont need, and use it for health care we wouldn't be debating this. IMO, denying people of means from health care (like they do in other countries) is the biggest [censored] crime in history. My solution would be to convince some of the big retail stores, to work out a deal with health care providers, basically they provide free health care for any of their employees in lieu of pay, dollar for dollar health care, it wouldnt be any more expensive if the govt provided tax breaks for the companies, and the rest of us who arent morons and get have their priorities straight dont have to worry about getting our hard earned dollars stolen from us.


oh ya, completely streamline teh system, make malpractice suits almost non-existent (tough, [censored] happens imo) unless it was REALLY negligent.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you and others in the thread who are alarmed about health care being considered a human right and socialism propose to deal with health care for children without health insurance? Is it just tough luck for them, just as if they were adults?

[/ QUOTE ]

Children can go to the ER at anytime and receive care. (Even for non Emergencies)

Children usually have parents, and their parents are responsible for their care.

Children that don't have parents are already covered. ADC I beleive covers them. Also I would like to see ALL government programs work from the bottom up, instead of the top down.

ie.. instead of pregnant unwed unemployed mothers getting care via the feds->county->community that it work in reverse community->county->feds

edit: Also currently children with dead parents get a social security check AND health care.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If people would get their priorities straight, and rather than buy crap they dont need, and use it for health care we wouldn't be debating this. IMO, denying people of means from health care (like they do in other countries) is the biggest [censored] crime in history. My solution would be to convince some of the big retail stores, to work out a deal with health care providers, basically they provide free health care for any of their employees in lieu of pay, dollar for dollar health care, it wouldnt be any more expensive if the govt provided tax breaks for the companies, and the rest of us who arent morons and get have their priorities straight dont have to worry about getting our hard earned dollars stolen from us.


oh ya, completely streamline teh system, make malpractice suits almost non-existent (tough, [censored] happens imo) unless it was REALLY negligent.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you and others in the thread who are alarmed about health care being considered a human right and socialism propose to deal with health care for children without health insurance? Is it just tough luck for them, just as if they were adults?

[/ QUOTE ]


I wouldnt mind a socialist healthcare for people under teh age of 18. What micheal moore wants is SOCIALISM, he is a socialist, socialism is for people not able to make decisions for themselves, and idiots, most kids fall into both categories, so Id have no problem with a socialist health care system for people under the age of 18, if their parents are not able to provide healthcare for them.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

Also, does anyone have any info on the quality of healthcare compared to other industrialized countries? And dont use Cuba as a response, that is a joke, Im talking Canada etc. Ive heard nothing but horror stories about long waits etc, and would like to know if it is true.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
All due respect, this is a really dumb opinion. One might say that the USA was built on the backs of African slaves, stolen from Native Americans, and layered over the corpses of immigrant laborers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here we go again. The hate America crowd comes forward. Every country has taken over land, and fought for land, so get over it. Oh, and those, "corpses of immigrant laborers" CAME HERE VOLUNTARILY. Try picking up a history book.

[/ QUOTE ]
I never said that this was my opinion. I said that it was something that someone might say. I personally grind peasants underneath my boot heel just for the added dietary fiber.

Hint: Never take me too seriously.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I dont see how healthcare is a basic human right. Taking from one group of people and giving to another is socialism. The USA was built on capitalism not socialism.

[/ QUOTE ]
All due respect, this is a really dumb opinion. One might say that the USA was built on the backs of African slaves, stolen from Native Americans, and layered over the corpses of immigrant laborers. Using reductio ad absurdum on your argument would leave us with a government that doesn't tax anyone for anything and does nothing. Hey, wait a minute...

[/ QUOTE ]


With all due respect, this is a dumb position, unless you dont know what capitalism means. If the US' foundation was Anarachy, than yes, you are correct. But it wasnt. And slaves/immigrants etc really have nothing to do with the conversation.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

You missed the hint? I thought there was some kind of non-subtle joke in there somewhere if you were paying attention.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
IE in Sweden someone making about $80k/yr is taxed 45%, max tax is 50%. Here it's 38%/38% at that level. Not *that* gigantic of a difference.

[/ QUOTE ]
7-12% sounds like a pretty big difference to me.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

ill field in for the UK.

It costs the tax payer about £100bil a year which works out about £18 a year per person on average (inc non tax payers)

Waiting list are percieved to be long, the longest being 6 months. Most within 6 weeks, and doctors appointments in one week.

Other critiscms include dirty wards with high level of resistant bacteria, and a shortage of NHS dentists.

Also REALLY expensive drugs (eg. cancer drugs) arent usually available at this present time.

Also you can get private health insurance, but i was unable to find out how much this was

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
IE in Sweden someone making about $80k/yr is taxed 45%, max tax is 50%. Here it's 38%/38% at that level. Not *that* gigantic of a difference.

[/ QUOTE ]
7-12% sounds like a pretty big difference to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK, but don't most people in the US pay well over 7% of their income for health insurance?

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
IE in Sweden someone making about $80k/yr is taxed 45%, max tax is 50%. Here it's 38%/38% at that level. Not *that* gigantic of a difference.

[/ QUOTE ]
7-12% sounds like a pretty big difference to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK, but don't most people in the US pay well over 7% of their income for health insurance?

[/ QUOTE ]

As an individual, probably not. If you combine the company's contribution, then probably yes.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

Public spending on health care per capita in 2004 -
Canada: $2,120
US: $2,724

Private spending on health care per capita in 2004 -
Canada: $917
US: $3,372

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
My friend has gotten $150k worth of eye surgeries at UCLA eye center because she's indigent and disabled (although not enough to get disabilty [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]) in LA County.
.

[/ QUOTE ]

WTF? I'm not charging enough.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

Cataract surgery, laser surgery, corneal transplant, a million follow up things. The last I heard she said it was $120k or something so I just extrapolated.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
ill field in for the UK.

It costs the tax payer about £100bil a year which works out about £18 a year per person on average

[/ QUOTE ]

err 100B/18 = 5 billion plus subjects and I thought they had a negative birth rate they really have been busy.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

Be more pissed about this----

Who pays for pharmaceutical innovation?

Since 1999 America has accounted for 71% of the sales of new chemical entities, up from 62%. Japan and Germany, the next two largest pharmaceutical markets, account for just 4% each.

Of course this figure stems from both high volume and high price in the U.S.; it is a massive form of implicit foreign aid.

Other countries like to point out how much we pay for inferior care here is a good place to cut some fat

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
Be more pissed about this----

Who pays for pharmaceutical innovation?

Since 1999 America has accounted for 71% of the sales of new chemical entities, up from 62%. Japan and Germany, the next two largest pharmaceutical markets, account for just 4% each.

Of course this figure stems from both high volume and high price in the U.S.; it is a massive form of implicit foreign aid.

Other countries like to point out how much we pay for inferior care here is a good place to cut some fat

[/ QUOTE ]

You are absolutely correct, Canadians paying 3% over production cost (by law) is crazy when American's pay for all of the development costs.

It gets even worse if American's are allowed to subvert the system and buy drugs from Canada.

Personally I think the solution is to invade Canada, or maybe file a WTO complaint.

Re: Just Saw Sicko, Now Have Question
 

[ QUOTE ]
Other countries like to point out how much we pay for exponentially superior care here is a good place to cut some fat

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP