Comment

Pelican

631
Obdicut (Now with 2% less brain)2/03/2010 11:59:23 am PST

re: #629 Aceofwhat?

I disagree that it’s only a ‘few cases’ where the formulary acts to delay efficacious treatment, but since that’s very protected information, I’m not aware of any large study that would decide the argument factually.

What I would like to see overhauled is the propensity for certain companies to allow other countries to strong-arm lower prices, whereby the company turns around and charges US customers too much. Finally some regulation that you and I might agree on! (mandating that pharmaceuticals can’t charge other countries less than they charge US consumers, or something to that effect)

And yes, this I’m in total agreement with— though you could achieve the same benefit by allowing the US government to bargain collectively with them in the same manner as other countries.

Second part: I think there’s a lot of sensibility in Gawande’s “build on the existing” philosophy. In short, though, i think you remember a cornerstone of my stance…whether we introduce a public option or simply improve people’s ability to purchase and portage their coverage across state lines, I think that we need to learn to be better consumers of health care. I think that twelve large premiums are better spent as one lump sum in an account set aside for basic medical expenses, with a much cheaper policy to cover catastrophic events.

I can agree with that— it sounds like the Singapore plan, kind of, but I think that there are a lot of other things that would have to be in place as well. I think that it’s not just on the customers, but also on the doctors to change their culture in some places.

Anyway, let’s not whip out our arguments-from-authority again. I had difficulty getting mine back into my pants.