posted on January 22, 2003 08:57:44 PM new
There is a lot of good coming out of the NAFTA agreement.Not exactly what the big drug Co.s had in mind,..LOL...
posted on January 22, 2003 09:04:05 PM new
That Advair breather is 118.00 for each disk.It is good for 20 days.Glad I didnt need anything else at the time.
posted on January 22, 2003 09:13:51 PM new
Notice how quick they are to cry, "Foul!" when the system that they created works against them? The Federal Supreme court is going to hear the case of New England's Medical Cost Reducation Plan in order to see if a State can legally force drug companies to sell their products for less. In fact, there is a whoile slew of legislation that is being hussled into the Supreme Court's docket, due to the case that Republicans have very litle time before the tide turns on them and they want to get as many rulings into their favor as possible.
posted on January 22, 2003 10:10:10 PM new
Yeah, but what you don't hear:
http://www.ncpa.org/ba/ba323/ba323.html
"While some drugs do cost less in Canada, others don't. Furthermore, large numbers of Canadians come to the United States to buy drugs because so many drugs are not available at any cost in Canada. The Canadian government purposely restricts the overall availability of prescription drugs through a combination of a lengthy drug approval process and oppressive price controls. The result is that patients are often harmed."
..."Canada's 10 provincial governments subsidize prescription drugs for certain populations - primarily the poor, elderly and those in long-term residential care. The remainder of the population in six provinces must pay for their drugs out of pocket, but four provinces have some coverage of pharmaceuticals. For example, in British Columbia an individual must pay for the first $800 in drug purchases each year, and the government pays 70 percent of costs between $800 and $2,000 and 100 percent of costs above $2,000. Government subsidies cover only the provincial "formulary," the list of drugs approved for the provincial health plan."
..."Price controls are the reason some prescription drugs cost less in Canada than in the United States. The Patented Medicines Price Review Board (PMPRB), a government agency that oversees the pharmaceutical industry, negotiates a final price for prescription drugs with pharmaceutical companies rather than relying on the drug manufacturers to cut their own prices. Generally, the board does not allow a new drug to be priced higher than the most expensive existing drug used to treat the same condition. Thus the Canadian system penalizes patients who have difficulty with a more popular medicine but would thrive on the second, third or fourth medicine that is similar but not exactly the same.
Canada also keeps down the price of some prescription drugs by depending on other developed countries to bear a larger share of the research and development costs required to bring drugs into production. These costs average US$600 million per drug, so prices in the global market must reflect the need to attract investment and earn profits for future research and development. However, the cost of actually manufacturing most drugs is small, so manufacturers have discretion in pricing, which is why Canada can force them to set drug prices lower. If patients in every country paid a less-than-fair price for drugs, no money for research and development of new drugs would be available."
..."All provinces require that chemically identical and cheaper generic drugs be substituted for more expensive brand-name drugs when they are available. However, British Columbia has gone farther with a "reference price system." Under this system, the government can require that a patient receiving a drug subsidy be treated with whichever costs the least: (a) a generic substitute, (b) a drug with similar but not identical active ingredients or (c) a completely different compound deemed to have the same therapeutic effect. Patients are often forced to switch medicines, sometimes in mid-treatment, when the reference price system mandates a change. As the figure shows:
Twenty-seven percent of physicians in British Columbia report that they have had to admit patients to the emergency room or hospital as a result of the mandated switching of medicines.
Sixty-eight percent report confusion or uncertainty by cardiovascular or hypertension patients, and 60 percent have seen patients' conditions worsen or their symptoms accelerate due to mandated switching."
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
posted on January 22, 2003 10:20:23 PM new
Now, we *could* copy their system here in the US. We, too, could have the lower drug prices.
But...the second an American was denied a drug for whatever reason the #*!@ would hit the fan. Hell, people in this country run to the doctor the minute they get a cough or sniffle and demand anitbiotics immediately. They don't want to hear that a drug isn't instantly available for *anything.* Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
