Would ObamaCare Kill Medical Innovation?
As health care reform inches closer to reality, a massively important question becomes even more pressing: Will ObamaCare kill the sorts of medical innovation that makes the United States the leader in bringing new treatments, technology, and procedures to market? “America is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have a national health plan,” says Rep. Charlie Rangel (DN.Y.), former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.), and countless others who want the United States government to guarantee health …
Tags: charlie rangel, dean, dn, health care reform, howard dean, Innovation, Kill, market america, medical, medical innovation, national health plan, ObamaCare, sorts, united states government, Would
December 14th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Well, it’s a fact that the vast majority of Americans do not want the HC overhaul. If I had the time, I’d argue you further.
But I know this isn’t leading anywhere. So I’ll say I have my opinion you have yours.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Those governments subsidize the healtchare cost. Healthcare’s good there. But it ain’t like Medicare here – a penniless man can’t walk into a random Korean hospital and expect dozen treatmets for free. Serious surgeries will cost them.
Some things Asia are cheaper because they cut down on middlemen and labor cost. Their governments have more arbitrary authority over wages and cost.
Americans can hardly build a treehouse without 100 groups obejcting and going through all the red tape.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
The problem with polls like this that show most people are happy with their h.c. is that they don’t capture the critical reasons why reform is necessary. Firstly and foremost, this poll doesn’t represent the voices of millions of uninsured Americans, and extending coverage to those people is one of the primary motivations for reform.The second pressing reason for health care reform is spiraling costs, a fact upon which insurers, physicians, hospitals and government all agree.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Some Cnd.s go to the U.S.because it provides the nearest facility for their needs. A study by Barer, et al, indicates that the majority of Cnd.s who seek h.c. in the U.S. are already there for other reasons, incl’d business travel or vacations. A smaller % seek care in the U.S. for reasons of confidentiality, incl’d abortions, mental illness, substance abuse, and other prob.s that they don’t wish to divulge to their local doc., family, or employer.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
At least 85,000 Americans choose to travel abroad for medical procedures each year, according to a recent report by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Treatment includes dental implants, hip and knee replacements, heart valve replacements and bypass surgery. The cost of surgery performed overseas can be as little as 20 percent of the price of the same procedure in the United States, according to a recent report by the American Medical Association.
December 14th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
US h.c. system ranks as the most expensive, ranks last in universal access, and produces h.c. results on average about near the middle.
December 14th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
What good would it do someone from another country to travel to the US for health care unless they were wealthy?
What good does it for any of the millions of uninsured Americans, or those that went bankrupt from h.c. costs, or the families of those whose deaths were contributed to by lack of h.c. insurance if some rich folks come to the U.S. for certain procedures???
Americas HC system is a disgrace because of it’s exorbitant cost, waste, & lack of universal access.
December 14th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I just now replied because I have a full time job, with substantial overtime.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Oh wait, I’m sorry. You are right that people who have it good do come to this Country and get their health care. And why is that? Because it’s the best, hence they come here for it.
Let me note, being an inheritor of diabetes, type 2, I can’t get insurance, so why the heck would I defend our current HC?
Because the current plan is horrible. I’ll say it again, we don’t need that huge bill: Cross state competition for reduced prices and allowed access to preexisting conditions would be a start.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:12 am
You can judge it the way you want. And the way you respond to others viewpoints you can have. The fact is the US World Health Organization ranks us Number 1 in responsiveness.
It depends on what you think makes HC great, but, when we desire to be looked at, we get looked at. When we need or desire treatment then we get it faster than any place else on the planet.
Hmm, would I rather wait to get treatment on a potentially life threatening problem… or get it now?
December 15th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Hahaha no, you dummy. Rich people can come to America for treatment. Regular people stay in their countries where they get care that is AT LEAST as good as the US’s.
Most people in the States (like me) can’t get that “best healthcare” we here so much about.
December 15th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Wait, you actually believe that America’s HC is a disgrace… what?? Why do you think other people from other countries travel here for it in the first place? Because they can get treatment here. It’s the other places, like Canada for example, that are a disgrace when it comes to HC
But hey, if you’re convinced that it’s no good than so be it. 80% are happy with it, and with small changes it could be even better. Still, complete changes to a proven bad system are no, no’s.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:06 am
As of now, how many hundred duplicated bureaucracies are there in terms of private insurance companies?
December 15th, 2009 at 1:22 am
meg.. Woopie!!, it still has 111 new bureaurcracies, scrutiny of your IRS return to determine eligibility, fines, jail, a health commissioner to help guide your doctor’s choice of treatment, $500 billion medicare cuts. What a nightmare, and a massive hairball!
December 15th, 2009 at 1:55 am
“The U.S. h.c. system is an absolute disgrace, 1/6 of americans uninsured, many more underinsured, millions of personal bankruptcies because of it, and lack insur. contributing to thousands of deaths each yr. is a feat that is basically unheard of in the rest of the world, and STILL we spend far more on this awful piece of garbage than any other country on earth. its totally absurd, and I can’t believe this broken system has operational so long, but better late than never!!
December 15th, 2009 at 2:47 am
The biggest determinant of the profitability of new inventions & technology is the patent laws.
And yes, the drug companies are greedy & have lobbied their way into profits larger than necessary for the amount of research they do.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:53 am
The h.c. bills “exchange” is cross state free market competition between private insurance companies.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:55 am
You dipshit. Comparing campaign funding by deep pocket special interests with “freedom of speech” is ludicurous. Of course you are no stranger to making such absurd rationalizations.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:15 am
So what?
Americans are not so fortunate as to have a single payer system as part of either h.c. reform bill.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:51 am
You have a very strange argument. You are defending the enormous profits by which they bought former Congressman like Billy Tauzin and as soon as people like him crafted pharma friendly laws in Congress he was offered multimillion dollar job at big pharma’s lobby group called Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
Now you are getting upset at regulations and laws shaped by the same big pharma ?
December 15th, 2009 at 4:24 am
The place where the real evils of the profit motive arise has more to do with health insurance companies than drug companies. Yeah, the big pharma do a bunch of evil things from time to time, but you can also argue that it signals desperation at times.
The problems with insurance lie in all the restrictions, the denials of coverage, the fact that individuals generally cannot be covered on their own dime, etc. Pharma lobbyists and Insurance lobbyists are committing different evils entirely.
December 15th, 2009 at 4:30 am
I’m puzzled as to the relevance of this piece. The issue with government healthcare has been about availability of coverage and care to all people, not merely price control of the drugs and items you have to buy.
Secondly, the idea of cheap drugs in Canada being connected to profit in the US is patently false. It’s cheap because Canada can simply manufacture w/o spending cash on the research since the lag time from development to release of a drug renders the patents rather pointless.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:20 am
@WorldTravelDude
Yeah, yeah, you hate big pharma, I get it. The cancer stricken person in this video was apparently saved by a drug created by big pharma.
I don’t work for pharmaceutical companies. Of course some of them are greedy. I just don’t hate them by default because of the high cost of drugs, even though FDA and other regulations and frivilous lawsuits add to the cost.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:14 am
That is totally none sense. Most of groundbreaking drugs have come from labs at universities not labs of big pharma.
Only groundbreaking thing big pharma has done is create a groundbreaking marketing campaign for drugs which still has unknown side effects because it is brought to the market too early in development.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:51 am
@keephealthcareprivat
Is this along the lines of Soviet tanks rolling down European streets?
As a Londoner, never realised it was that bad in my country.