Originally posted by FMFA crude outsider's perspective: the best universities produce excellent doctors. Unfortunately, few can afford the astronomical fees. Therefore most attend institutions that are less than excellent. This situation is common to all countries lacking free university education. In South Africa, for example, Groote Schuur Hospital is internationally famous for its excellent medical faculty, attracting students from around the world; others produce doctors of more dubious quality.
This is patriotism passed off as analysis.
Originally posted by sh76How do you figure the government pays less? My mother is on Medicaid and she gets her prescriptions filled in the same manner everyone else does.
I wouldn't say "no connection." Certainly, if the profit margins decrease for pharma companies because government pays less for the medications than private insurance companies would, that would lead to a decrease in pharmaceutical development.
Though, of course, I agree that the two things are different concepts, not completely interrelated.
What DOES increase prices is the law prohibiting Americans from buying prescription drugs from Canada. If Canada can have a viable, profitable pharmaceutical industry that doesn't rape healthcare recipients, why can't we have that in the US?
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Originally posted by USArmyParatrooperIt's common knowledge that, by and large, Medicaid compensates doctors less than most private insurance does. The consumer never sees it. It's about how much the doctor or the pharmacy gets compensated. Ask a few local doctors who take Medicaid. That, of course, is why many doctors won't see Medicaid patients, or, at least, why they don't like seeing Medicaid patients as much as patients with gold star PPOs.
How do you figure the government pays less? My mother is on Medicaid and she gets her prescriptions filled in the same manner everyone else does.
What DOES increase prices is the law prohibiting Americans from buying prescription drugs from Canada. If Canada can have a viable, profitable pharmaceutical industry that doesn't rape healthcare recipients, why can't we have that in the US?
The pharmaceutical industry has to have its intellectual property be protected or there will be no pharmaceutical industry. My mother's worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 2 decades. Do you have any idea how much time, money and effort it takes to research, produce, develop and market a drug? When you do find out, then come back and tell me how Big Pharma is raping everyone.
Suffice it to say, each pill may only cost half a cent to produce. The first pill cost half a billion dollars to produce.
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Originally posted by KazetNagorraOf course they're not neutral. They want to sell their product.
Yes, I find these sort of practises a bit dodgy though, since pharmaceuticals obviously aren't neutral.
Short of nationalizing every Pharma company, how would you take the profit motive away from the pharmaceutical company?
That's why doctors are supposed to act a responsible middlemen.
