Will Americans Ever Have Affordable Medicines?
Monday. Debbie went to get my prescription medication from the neighboring pharmacy. The pharmacist said the medication is $180. Debbie said well I get the same medication for the past few months and it is only $45 with insurance and how did it become so high this time. The reply was well his insurance limit for prescription medicine insurance pay limit is reached with this month. Debbie knew I am going to get a comprehensive insurance next month so with her usual thriftiness in alert mode she is not going to budge and pay the money. so she came home to research for generic prices online but found the same medication company (the one I needed) website and filled out a questionairre which enabled her to print out one month supply free form and I wasn't believing it until she came back home with an absolute one month supply free from the pharmacy.
This reminded me of the book I read more than a year back named "The truth about the drug companies". Marcia Angell M.D. who was the chair of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine . She wrote this book with such a fervor which did unmasked the pharmaceutical companies lucifer's greed to make money. One of them is--pharmaceutical companies make just a small change in one or two molecules of their same medicine which is existing in market and whose patent period is getting over. when they receive another patent for 14 more years of the same product then they milk more money out of customers and avoid generic competition (So good for free market ideology supported by the rights).
When you compare the prices of medicine in India I bought for 26 years of my life it was never as expensive as this but I hear some right winger yelling at me "Well that is why India don't invent so many new medicines every year like America and the large profit is the incentive in free market". My friend right winger I hear you and agree markets are necessary but not just them alone will work wonders. The most inventions in America aren't done by free market riding pharmaceuticals but huge percentage of new medical inventions are by American universities and public institutions supported by tax dollars.Free markets buy the idea for paltry amounts to milk lot of money out of the people who paid the taxes in first hand.
Forget the health care model of Canada.It has its own drawbacks. Will we American's will ever have a system that will still have our inventions spearhead in the world arena and still our medcines could be affordable to an average citizen. I think it could be done because I sincerly believe incentives for humans are not just money alone. If that is not so then many Noble prize winners won't give their cash prize ($1 million and odd) away or donate to good causes and walk home with pride and happiness as they do most often.
This reminded me of the book I read more than a year back named "The truth about the drug companies". Marcia Angell M.D. who was the chair of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine . She wrote this book with such a fervor which did unmasked the pharmaceutical companies lucifer's greed to make money. One of them is--pharmaceutical companies make just a small change in one or two molecules of their same medicine which is existing in market and whose patent period is getting over. when they receive another patent for 14 more years of the same product then they milk more money out of customers and avoid generic competition (So good for free market ideology supported by the rights).
When you compare the prices of medicine in India I bought for 26 years of my life it was never as expensive as this but I hear some right winger yelling at me "Well that is why India don't invent so many new medicines every year like America and the large profit is the incentive in free market". My friend right winger I hear you and agree markets are necessary but not just them alone will work wonders. The most inventions in America aren't done by free market riding pharmaceuticals but huge percentage of new medical inventions are by American universities and public institutions supported by tax dollars.Free markets buy the idea for paltry amounts to milk lot of money out of the people who paid the taxes in first hand.
Forget the health care model of Canada.It has its own drawbacks. Will we American's will ever have a system that will still have our inventions spearhead in the world arena and still our medcines could be affordable to an average citizen. I think it could be done because I sincerly believe incentives for humans are not just money alone. If that is not so then many Noble prize winners won't give their cash prize ($1 million and odd) away or donate to good causes and walk home with pride and happiness as they do most often.