Discussion of public health and health care policy, from a public health perspective. The U.S. spends more on medical services than any other country, but we get less for it. Major reasons include lack of universal access, unequal treatment, and underinvestment in public health and social welfare. We will critically examine the economics, politics and sociology of health and illness in the U.S. and the world.
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
We've always known drug companies are evil
Now it turns out they sell expensive cancer drugs exclusively in doses that are too large for the average person, forcing $3 billion a year in excess chemicals to be paid for, and then discarded. (Basically the clinics that administer the drugs aren't allowed to keep the excess to use on somebody else.)
Yes, drug companies are evil. But the reason this continue is because there is plenty of evil to go around. The doctors who administer the drugs sell them to patients (or their insurance companies) at a markup, and they charge for the waste. So they aren't complaining. And the FDA can only regulate drugs based on safety and effectiveness, Congress does not allow them to regulate based on considerations of cost. In Europe, these same drugs are sold in smaller quantities so there is much less waste.
Yes, this is the magic of the Free Market™ at work.
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