Re:Drug Prices Too High? Sometimes, They’re Not Costly Enough
by StanislavPetrov on Wednesday June 01, 2016 @03:19AM
(#11812614)
Unfortunately it ends up being the lesser of two evils.
Many people would rather have to wait for treatment rather then pay $10,000 a year for a policy and still be completely unable to get treatment because they can't afford the copay, since their policy doesn't kick in until after they shell out an additional $5,000, and even then only pays half.
Re:Drug Prices Too High? Sometimes, They’re Not Costly Enough
by Gupie on Wednesday June 01, 2016 @03:22AM
(#11812628)
From [0], "Patients are being denied mental health care, new hips and knees, and drugs to boost their recovery from illnesses". Does this also happen in the US or does the market ensure that everyone get every medical treatment they need?
Re:Drug Prices Too High? Sometimes, They’re Not Costly Enough
by hackuser on Wednesday June 01, 2016 @03:12AM
(#11812583)
Yet people in the UK love the NHS, afaict. I watched the debates on Scottish secession; both sides, Yes and No, were emphatic that if the vote went their way, citizens would retain what they called their "treasure", the NHS.
You consider NHS to be an example of a well run nationalized system, and yet the NHS deals with chronic rationing [0] [1], has queues for many things (and actually lets you pay to jump place in line) [2]. I'd hardly call that efficient or well run - instead, I'd call it symptomatic of central planning. During the 90s and 00s I thought that perhaps China's simultaneous transition from poverty and shortage to (relative) wealth and abundance (which was driven by their transition from state control to capitalism) would have finally put this 'the state could eliminate shortages and give everybody everything' nonsense to rest, but it seems that people have very short memories indeed (or just weren't born yet when the major experiments in nationalization were underway).
To give you a preview of the links, this quote is particularly poignant:
"Rationing is nothing new, of course. When waiting lists stretched to many months and even years, treatment was often rationed simply by the patient dying before they reach the operating table."
[0] http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/08/nhs-rationing...
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/apr/24/ra...
[2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3104106/NHS-charge...