Re: Re: cost of prednisone & Remicad

[Guest guest]

I read not long ago that the World Health Organization tracks the 40 most developed nations health status and that people in the US pay the most (by a wide margin) but that we are the 37th healthiest by standard measures of health and that is because so many people have to go without.

We should stop saying we are the richest country and start saying that 'We are a country where some very rich people live but many are also poor and that skews the statistics wildly'I think that many of us who grew up in the postWW II period perhaps have an unrealistic viewpoint of our economic prospects for the future because of that period in which the US was the only intact inductrialized nation sort of coincided with our coming of age.. so it wa a oeriod in which labor was scarce and companies offered things like health benefits as perks. That period is almost over.

Also, the industrial age was one in which there was a middle class because of the need for workers to man the factories of industry.. Increasingly the work is done by machines. So there are a lot of people who perhaps have unrealistic expectations for their future work prospects. We should be getting together to negotiate as groups for better deals on health services. Because they won't just come to us.On 8/13/07,

Solberg wrote:

LiveS, I totally agree and said much the same thing to my doc last week. It is obscene! Everything is way too expensive when you have to choose between groceries and scripts. If my husband's parents didn't help us once in awhile we'd be up sh*t creek. I had to write a check for three scripts today for $170 and that's the co=pay. I take 10 meds so do some math. People without insurance just don't go to the doc or wait til they have to go to the ER. This just isn't right. I bet if they had to live like this it would be a different story. LiveSimply <quackadillian (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

That is obscenely expensive.. I read the other day that health insurance companies in the US get 1/3 of every dollar spent on healthcare for their administrative costs..And then they won't pay claims? Both drugs and doctors are too expensive too.. The whole system is broken. I think Dennis Kucinich has the right idea with a single payer health care plan for all Americans.. The other Dem candidates want to do things like extend the programs for poor people but too many people fall through the cracks, especially on the coasts.. Where i live, a $40,000 a year income wont even get a roof over your head if you have to also pay for health insurance.. but people who make that much would be considered rich enough to pay

for their own health insurance.. and people with pre existing conditions often cant get insurance at any price... What I also don't understand is why American have to subsidize the research for the drug companies. Why can't all the countries that benefit from these new drugs share the cost of research.. When a drug costs $1000 a month in the US and $10 a month in some other countries, you know something is very wrong... Why are we the big suckers?

[Guest guest]

I read similar articles that mentioned that authorities didn't know why US citizens ranked so low. I immediately thought, "Duh. We don't exercise & we stuff ourselves with junk food!"

Ramblin' Rose

Moderator

A merry heart is good medicine. Proverbs 17:22

Reply-To: Neurosarcoidosis To: Neurosarcoidosis Subject: Re: Re: cost of prednisone & RemicadDate: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:50:29 -0400

I read not long ago that the World Health Organization tracks the 40 most developed nations health status and that people in the US pay the most (by a wide margin) but that we are the 37th healthiest by standard measures of health and that is because so many people have to go without. We should stop saying we are the richest country and start saying that 'We are a country where some very rich people live but many are also poor and that skews the statistics wildly'I think that many of us who grew up in the postWW II period perhaps have an unrealistic viewpoint of our economic prospects for the future because of that period in which the US was the only intact inductrialized nation sort of coincided with our coming of age.. so it wa a oeriod in which labor was scarce and companies offered things like health benefits as perks. That period is almost over. Also, the industrial age was one in which there was a middle class because of the need for workers to man the factories of industry.. Increasingly the work is done by machines. So there are a lot of people who perhaps have unrealistic expectations for their future work prospects. We should be getting together to negotiate as groups for better deals on health services. Because they won't just come to us.

On 8/13/07, Solberg <mary_s777 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

LiveS, I totally agree and said much the same thing to my doc last week. It is obscene! Everything is way too expensive when you have to choose between groceries and scripts. If my husband's parents didn't help us once in awhile we'd be up sh*t creek. I had to write a check for three scripts today for $170 and that's the co=pay. I take 10 meds so do some math. People without insurance just don't go to the doc or wait til they have to go to the ER. This just isn't right. I bet if they had to live like this it would be a different story. LiveSimply <quackadillian (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

That is obscenely expensive.. I read the other day that health insurance companies in the US get 1/3 of every dollar spent on healthcare for their administrative costs..And then they won't pay claims? Both drugs and doctors are too expensive too.. The whole system is broken. I think Dennis Kucinich has the right idea with a single payer health care plan for all Americans.. The other Dem candidates want to do things like extend the programs for poor people but too many people fall through the cracks, especially on the coasts.. Where i live, a $40,000 a year income wont even get a roof over your head if you have to also pay for health insurance.. but people who make that much would be considered rich enough to pay for their own health insurance.. and people with pre existing conditions often cant get insurance at any price... What I also don't understand is why American have to subsidize the research for the drug companies. Why can't all the countries that benefit from these new drugs share the cost of research.. When a drug costs $1000 a month in the US and $10 a month in some other countries, you know something is very wrong... Why are we the big suckers?

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