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"“If a thing loves, it is infinite.”"
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Location: Great Britain
27,180 posts, read 13,461,836 times
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Pharmaceutical companies generally take out a patent on new drugs in order to get researc costs back, however the patent is only enforceable for around twenty years after which other companies can make a generic version of the drug under a different name at a much cheaper price.
Wherever possible the NHS uses cheaper generic drugs rather than brand names.
Another way Britain's NHS cuts costs is by encouraging parallel imports of non-counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner.
Parallel imports are often referred to as grey product and are implicated in issues of international trade, and intellectual property.
Parallel importing is based on concept of exhaustion of intellectual property rights: according to this concept, when the product is first launched on the market in a particular jurisdiction, parallel importation is authorized to all residents in the state in question.
Some countries allow it but others do not.
Parallel importing of pharmaceuticals reduces price of pharmaceuticals by introducing competition; TRIPS agreement in Article 6 states that this practice cannot be challenged under the WTO dispute settlement system and so is effectively a matter of national discretion.
Brexit may have some implications in terms of parallel importing of pharmaceuticals and medical advices in relation to the EU . However it may also offer the opportunity of new cheap generic pharmaceutical importing from countries such as India and China, as well as the posibility of some form of EU deal, so it's an unkkown quantity at the moment.
A final way to keep down pharmaceutical prices and medical devices is to evaluate the effectiveness of what is being offered, being firm and being willing to walk away if the product is not cost effective or if a cheaper product can get a similar result, as pharmaceutical sales are big competitive business, so a large national body like the NHS can wield more negotiating power than individual healthcare companies or hospitals.
I don't think so. When Obamacare passed they had the support of every democrat and the reps were locked out using the nuclear option. Democrats had the opportunity under Obama to put national healthcare in place and missed the ball. At that time every member of Congress on the Dems side was lock step with anything Obama wanted to do with Reed and Pelosi leading the charge.
No filibuster was allowed. The nuclear option was used to pass Obamacare. They could have done the same thing for national healthcare instead of Obamacare but didn't.
why is that surprising ? , both parties serve big business first and foremost
Well, reality is that every civilized country on this planet provides healthcare for it's citizens except for us. We still like to make believe doctors make housecalls and if you get sick, your insurance company covers you. It's all a bunch of crap. The biggest reason people file for bankruptcy is because they can't afford medical bills even though they have insurance. How insane is that?
Obviously health insurance is there to benefit the insurance companies, not the general public. Even many if not most insurance plans through employers are greatly lacking in paying for medical expenses until the insured forks out an outrageous deductible and even then they'll only cover a percentage of the actual bill. Even with insurance, many if not most Americans end up with a huge debt they can't pay.
People don't choose to become sick and healthcare shouldn't be a luxury.
not providing healthcare is a false economy , if someone is sick , they are unable to make a full contribution , watched a docu a few years ago where a former millitary doctor was providing a travelling clinic , he stopped in some mid west town and one of his patients was a former veteran who was struggling to get construction work post 2009 , he hurt his leg in a workplace accident and gangrene was a real threat , the doctor told him he would loose his leg if he didnt get the proper care , his last words
national healthcare only works if you don't have a large class of "parasites" mooching off the system. It's not compatible with a globalist, flood countries with refugees sort of agenda. It might work in Norway but it wouldn't work so well here where we pride ourselves in having people mooch, take section 8, and the people who have most of the kids ARE the people mooching... welfare mom with 5 kids clogging up the doctor because she takes her kids in when they get the sniffles and doesn't have to pay anything for it on top of the tax breaks, food stamps, section 8 housing, and child support she already gets? She basically makes raising the kids her sole job and doesn't have to work.. her reward for having a vagina.
you do realise the usa has far and away the thinnest welfare state of any western nation ?
I normally vote GOP but was hoping the Democrats would give us a successful model from around the world in 2009 but instead they gave us the horrible concept known as Obamacare. We need a national discussion and come up with a consensus.
obamacare is the tamest healthcare plan in terms of how it hurts corporations in the history of the world , to call it socialised medicine is like calling north korea,s space programme advanced
as such it satisfies nobody , perhaps it might create debate for a future proper system , obama knew he was dealing with a fiercely idealogically conservative nation
Veterans dont support privatizing the VA unlike what right wing crackpots want to do.
I know a Vietnam vet that has had a leg injury for many years and walks with a limp. He sure as hell wouldn't give up his VA medical benefits for the world. He doesn't think it's perfect, but he thinks it's a thousand times better than having to deal with insurance companies and being at their mercy.
BTW you would probably consider him a right wing crackpot. There are millions of veterans using VA medical benefits that you would consider to be right wing crackpots.
Last edited by marino760; 03-26-2017 at 06:51 AM..
Geez, I dunno....... I read threads like this with great interest, trying to figure out what is right with American healthcare, and what is wrong. It's like a mystery, wrapped up in an enigma. Some say an NHS system, or something like it is the way forward. Others say no way....... I pay for my healthcare, I don't want to pay for someone else's. It's a puzzlement for sure.
I have used the NHS all my life. In fact I was born in an NHS hospital way back in the 50s. My children were born in NHS hospitals, I had my appendix out when I was 18, and two back operations in my late 40s. I have watched relatives come to the end of their lives in NHS hospitals.
My 91 year old mother in law had an operation for bowel cancer a year ago, and right now, is in hospital after a fall. She has had an artificial hip fitted, and will shortly be moving to a physio unit for help in regaining good movement. All this, free at the point of need. No bills or insurance to worry about.
We pay taxes for the NHS....... nothing is free in this life. But, the vast majority of British people would fight tooth and nail against any politician who tried to take it from us. I think most Americans would agree that something is wrong at the heart of American Medical treatment. It's obviously slanted to ensure vast profits are made from dealing with ill citizens. It is the massive fear hanging over many heads. How would we cope with serious illness, and the bills to pay?
You know the way forward is Universal Healthcare. But, how to get it? It seems many fear it. I don't need me no socialised medicine, is the cry. Well, what you've got isn't working too well for many citizens is it? I guess it's time you got marching in the streets demanding it, don't you?
Re: bold: I really like that phrasing & it's sortof funny that I feel that way too & I'm American!
"Like a mystery, wrapped up in an enigma." Are you interested in any attempts to 'unwrap the enigma'? I dunno, is it worthwhile to forward the current endeavor? Do you wanna try to 'put the puzzle pieces together' & see where that goes?
Re: underlined: Here you say "it's obviously slanted ..." & personally wholeheartedly agree with you. Although I'm not so sure my fellow Americans would agree? After all, it's worth noting the details & circumstances encircling our current healthcare debacle.
I'll cut to the chase, so to speak, & just ask you, point blank, do you have a small group of people in your Country that defend an unfettered 'free market' capitalism like we do here? & does this faction have an 'anti-government' rhetoric associated with? Does this group typically ignore the fact that their unfettered free market capitalistic rhetoric was never really about reducing the role of government but rather was about changing the nature of government intervention? Specifically, turning intervention away from benefiting the American people & towards defending the interests of large capital.
Guess I'll leave it there for now, by the way, open to all those interested in going there, thanks & respect.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,142,915 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220
I'm not going to dignify that with a response 😒
Because you can't. A Veteran risked his life for our country. In your example he lost his leg. They are owed healthcare and anything else we can do. His sacrifice gave you and I the ability the disagree and speak up as we see fit. His benefits were earned, I pay my taxes to take care of him, not those whose main concern is figuring out how to get things not earned by themselves because it isn't "fair."
Because you can't. A Veteran risked his life for our country. In your example he lost his leg. They are owed healthcare and anything else we can do. His sacrifice gave you and I the ability the disagree and speak up as we see fit. His benefits were earned, I pay my taxes to take care of him, not those whose main concern is figuring out how to get things not earned by themselves because it isn't "fair."
How did that vet contribute to my freedom? Nothing at all. Stop with the platitudes, you sound like a typical non vet Republican
I don't think anyone in Europe has grown up with strictly insurance based health care system like we have. People there were born, lived and died with nationalized health care. They know nothing else.
Those opposed to it here are afraid of what they don't know. They've never experienced it. They claim they don't want to pay for someone else's healthcare with reality being that they aren't going to anymore than they already are. The poor in this country get free medical care already and we all pay for it. The wealthy don't care because they can afford the best insurance out of pocket and the best doctors. That leaves a couple of hundred million middle class people that end up getting stuck with what we now have which is grossly inadequate.
Oh and BTW, many European countries have populations with a longer life expectancy than Americans have. If a nationalized health care system didn't work or was depriving them of medical care, they'd be living shorter lives, not longer ones.
Last edited by marino760; 03-26-2017 at 08:02 AM..
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Are you interested in any attempts to 'unwrap the enigma'? I dunno, is it worthwhile to forward the current endeavor? Do you wanna try to 'put the puzzle pieces together' & see where that goes?
