You are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

0
0

[–] ougNaHadNepVed ago 

I can see that. But, who will develop the drugs? Currently, the US develops most drugs, because the payoff is greatest here. If that goes away, will the pace of drug development slow to reflect that decline. I don't think there is any disagreement that it is very expensive to develop and test a new drug, and that there aren't really any cheaper ways to do it and still meet the regulatory hurdles.

And if you squeeze payments to doctors via single payer, to the point that it isn't worth the cost of a medical education, will it not lead to a decline in quality and quantity of care? Do we poach doctors from developing countries as part of our healthcare system?

0
1

[–] DickHertz 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Currently US companies and citizens subsidize drugs for the rest of the world. This should not be case for any reason. The pace of drug development would not slow if other countries made up the difference to allow companies to make a profit but even if the pace slowed that's not necessarily bad.

As for doctors some effort would have to be made to either subsidize their educations in return for indentured service for some period of time in (maybe) under-served regions or in some other way. Between that and getting malpractice liability under control they could still make a very good living mostly because they are not a commodity. If they were really after money there are other careers that are already much more lucrative than medicine.

As far as poaching we probably already do and as long as you pay more than anyone else that should still be the case.

0
0

[–] ougNaHadNepVed ago 

even if the pace slowed that's not necessarily bad

Except if you are a person who dies because the drug to save you wasn't developed.

getting malpractice liability under control

Yes, this is huge, but unlikely to happen. There are lots of lawyers in Congress.

As far as poaching we probably already do

That's not a sustainable model for a health care system. If that's our plan, I think it would be cheaper to just send patients as medical tourists to developing countries, something that happens already. That way we don't have to pay American wages to those doctors.