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San Diego is a great place to live. Downtown is a vibrant, lively place, especially on weekends. There are lots of vacationers and conventioneers visiting & I find myself giving directions, recommendations for dining, places to see, etc. It is fun to meet people from around the world and they all seem to be complimentary of our City. Early this morning there was a man seeking medical care. He was surprised that there were choices, explaining that in Canada, he would have to wait in a crowded room for hours and then he would likely be referred to a physician who could see him in a month or two. We got into a discussion comparing their system to our basic non-system. He pays a lot of taxes for the privelege of having a government sponsored system. He did see Michael Moore's movie & found it to be slanted toward the problems with US health care. He advised that it is a difficult problem because somebody has to pay!!
For analysis of the 2 systems try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared
In a discussion with a friend who has traveled extensively, the "rest of the world" copies the US as much as possible. A good example is the pharmaceutical industry. The US companies spend billions of dollars on research & development with much oversight by the FDA. Once a drug becomes marketable, other countries simply copy and use it. No fees, no trade violations, no costly research. The US does the work, the other countries watch, wait, seize. This is something that is not talked about, but probably should be. Medications from Canada are cheaper because there is no R & D cost associated with production of the drugs already approved in the US. The pharmaceutical firms must be well aware of this. It is known that many drugs are tested in third world countries so when the drug is ready to market, R & D is very high and passed on to the American consumer. Having all the money, reputation, & conceit, the giant pharmaceutical companies can afford to be altruistic at times, like funding for AIDS drugs in Africa. So, the cost of drugs is too high here. It seems that other countries simply steal from us and provide care for people who could never afford to pay the prices we pay. Anybody out there have any suggestions, plans, ideas of how to reduce the costs of drugs?? The first thing I would do is to cut the CEOs' salaries. What is your idea???
So long
San Diego is a great place to live. Downtown is a vibrant, lively place, especially on weekends. There are lots of vacationers and conventioneers visiting & I find myself giving directions, recommendations for dining, places to see, etc. It is fun to meet people from around the world and they all seem to be complimentary of our City. Early this morning there was a man seeking medical care. He was surprised that there were choices, explaining that in Canada, he would have to wait in a crowded room for hours and then he would likely be referred to a physician who could see him in a month or two. We got into a discussion comparing their system to our basic non-system. He pays a lot of taxes for the privelege of having a government sponsored system. He did see Michael Moore's movie & found it to be slanted toward the problems with US health care. He advised that it is a difficult problem because somebody has to pay!!
For analysis of the 2 systems try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_and_American_health_care_systems_compared
In a discussion with a friend who has traveled extensively, the "rest of the world" copies the US as much as possible. A good example is the pharmaceutical industry. The US companies spend billions of dollars on research & development with much oversight by the FDA. Once a drug becomes marketable, other countries simply copy and use it. No fees, no trade violations, no costly research. The US does the work, the other countries watch, wait, seize. This is something that is not talked about, but probably should be. Medications from Canada are cheaper because there is no R & D cost associated with production of the drugs already approved in the US. The pharmaceutical firms must be well aware of this. It is known that many drugs are tested in third world countries so when the drug is ready to market, R & D is very high and passed on to the American consumer. Having all the money, reputation, & conceit, the giant pharmaceutical companies can afford to be altruistic at times, like funding for AIDS drugs in Africa. So, the cost of drugs is too high here. It seems that other countries simply steal from us and provide care for people who could never afford to pay the prices we pay. Anybody out there have any suggestions, plans, ideas of how to reduce the costs of drugs?? The first thing I would do is to cut the CEOs' salaries. What is your idea???
So long