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> "In other words, the low prices for health care found in other countries is, in part, subsidised by the American consumer." What you'd expect is that the research takes place in the US due to some level of higher profits, but it's far from clear whether that level ~= our current level. Absent any determination of discrepancy between those two levels, while we can still say it's a part of the puzzle, we have no idea how large a part. And given that a higher GDP country will tend to be the more profitable place to do any front-end research/initial rollout anyway, it wouldn't seem that researchers would need any additional profit premium to prefer the US to, say, France [1]. So while data may show differently, I certainly wouldn't expect that factor to explain any of the discrepancy between what we pay as a percentage of GDP and what France pays. [1] In general: people in larger economies tend to spend more for things. So net profit tends to be higher there. So things tend to get researched/introduced there first. And no other industry seems to require anything close to the additional profit premium that the healthcare industry sees, to do that research/introduction here first. (auto, energy, tech, etc) In fact, the degree to which industries go elsewhere tends to hinge on massive government subsidies designed explicitly to offset this natural reward structure. |
One quote from the "How Doctors Die" I linked to elsewhere on this page (heavily trimmed for space):
He explained to me that he never, under any circumstances, wanted to be placed on life support machines again. .... Doctors did everything possible to resuscitate him and put him on life support in the ICU. This was Jack’s worst nightmare. ... Then I turned off the life support machines and sat with him. He died two hours later. ... Even with all his wishes documented, Jack hadn’t died as he’d hoped. The system had intervened. One of the nurses, I later found out, even reported my unplugging of Jack to the authorities as a possible homicide. the prospect of a police investigation is terrifying for any physician. I could far more easily have left Jack on life support against his stated wishes, prolonging his life, and his suffering, a few more weeks. I would even have made a little more money, and Medicare would have ended up with an additional $500,000 bill.
I think it's very important that people be allowed to spend their own money on what they want, because that's where the innovation will come from that will eventually be commoditized for everyone else. But sometimes last year's pill is good enough.