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1000 Reasons not to vote for GW
DrewKaree:
--- Quote from: danny_galaga on September 16, 2004, 11:09:16 am ---hey, or you could just trade it for all the drugs you IMPORT- coke, ecstasy, heroin, marijuana....
;)
--- End quote ---
yeah, we could, but then the debate would be about providing heroin, hash, coke, etc for all the seniors and adding it into our prescription drug "solution".
I'd say legalize those things, and then start taxing the import of them, but then I'd have to sit through INSANE debate about how those drugs aren't the main contributor in the increase in gun deaths - we just need more gun controls/bans because there'd be no correlating link between those drugs and violent crime...well, other than facts ::)
But I'm down with your idea danny....how much should we start charging Canada for heroin and coke after we make the trade? ;)
GGKoul:
Here's an article about
http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/94/102666.htm?GT1=5100
fredster:
GGKoul,
I see that article, but it doesn't explain one thing - why does the US pay more for drugs than Canada in the first place? Is it volume pricing?
Is the distribution network the cause? Why is that these drugs can be cheaper to the Canadians than us?
If it's volume and distribution, I don't see how we can't correct that error here by making the necessary changes to the distribution system and either decrease our consumer prices by increasing the volume price overseas or flat out fix the price to everybody.
That way anybody who uses these products worldwide pay the same rate. If all the countries paid the price for the research then after a short time the price could be reduced to everyone.
I think there is some special interest groups in the US that are manipulating the US market.
But I am looking for the explaination of why it's higher here. I couldn't find that in my research.
GGKoul:
Here's the reason...
Canada Caps Drug Costs
Canadians are spared higher drug prices, in large part because of price controls. The Canadian government has established a "Patented Medicine Prices Review Board" to ensure drug prices are not excessive.
"They look at the price of the drug," said Dr. Allan Detsky, a pharmacoeconomist at the University of Toronto, "and they say, 'You know what, we have no idea what the long-run costs of development are, but they can't possibly be that high. Forget it.' "
The review board has established a very specific formula for drug companies wishing to sell in Canada:
Existing drugs cannot increase in price by more than the rate of inflation.
New drugs cannot cost more than similar drugs for the same illness.
And a breakthrough drug, the first of a new class of drugs, cannot cost more than the median price for the drug in other countries.
For example, the new cancer drug Campath is priced as follows:
United States: $2,400
France: $760
Sweden $660
Britain $570
Italy $500
The median, or "midprice," is $660, so Canadian regulations say that's the most the drug can sell for in Canada.
"It tells you that the true long-run cost of production must be way lower than the American price," said Detsky.
U.S. Alone in No Price Controls
Every industrialized country has some form of price controls on patented medications, except the United States. American drug companies say price controls stifle innovation and discourage them from selling certain drugs in foreign markets.
"The principal problem with price controls is you have limitations on access to medicines, and you don't have the newest most innovative treatments," said Alan Holmer, president and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
But when pressed, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry could only identify eight drugs not available on Canadian shelves, and three of those are contraceptives. That's not enough to bother many Canadians.
"I don't mind," said Ireland. "I think we have a pretty good selection."
And much of that selection consists of American-made drugs, at well below American prices.
Examples:
Mirapex, for Parkinson's disease: $157 in Canada vs. $263 in the United States.
Celexa, for depression: $149 in Canada vs. $253 in the United States.
Diovan, for high blood pressure: $149 in Canada vs. $253 in the United States.
Oxazepam, for insomnia: $13 in Canada vs. $70 in the United States.
Seroquel, for insomnia: $33 in Canada vs. $124 in the United States
shmokes:
Yeah but you're Canada, and they're Ireland and France and Italy. And we're America. So whatever way we are doing it must be best because look how much better we are then everyone else.