Why Americans pay so much for Prescription Drugs
As a colleague participant in a Linkedin discussion said, “The entire medical system only gets paid when they can convert a non-patient into a patient. Moreover, it is in the best interest of the system, to keep the patient a patient, so as to continue getting paid.“
That perspective even extends to prescription drugs and why so many Americans seek lower cost solutions from Canada even when their health plans include discounts on generics ordered online. It also reminds me of Eat Your Medicine, which views food as pharmacology and promotes changes in diet and lifestyle rather than the quick fix of a pill.
INFOGRAPHIC: Why Americans pay so much for drugs, and Canadians don’t.
Infographic created by: MedicalBillingAndCodingCertification.net
Besides our various articles tagged Regulatory, here’s another good resource. Obamacare’s Secret History is a detailed account of the sort of back room political dealings that occur in this country and the corrupting role of powerful special interest lobbying. It appears in the Wall Street Journal and is obviously right-leaning, but it describes a political process that’s messy under any administration as long as those special interests have so much access and political influence. While the article implies that President Obama was responsible for concessions made to the pharmaceutical industry, it also shows that his original intent had to be compromised in order to get healthcare reform passed at all.