Lastly, can you tell me just one time that the government get involved and things actually improved?

I think they do a good job of delivering a letter across the country for only 42 cents.

Yea, but they seem to not be avoiding the red ink:

The agency said its fiscal 2008 year-to-date net loss totals $1.13 billion after nearly breaking even in the first two quarters.

I think they do a good job of delivering a letter across the country for only 42 cents.

You got me there!
BTW My son is going to be the endocrinologist that defeats diabetes.
You read it here first.

“I’m not sure the drug comapnies are the ones doing the diabetes research, specifically relating to beta cell regeneration or stopping the process of their destruction”

I am a chemist, and not a biologist. I don’t know anything about beta cell regeneration, but I did work on a PTP1b inhibitor at a pharma company, which is involved in beta cell regulation. Also, charities like JDRF are funding many companies for beta cell regeneration research:

(jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=BEC026ED-1279-CFD5-A7264286A9ACC4BC)

How would socialized medicine effect the drug companies?

I don’t think it would affect drug companies as much as other areas of health care. Pharmaceuticals account for only 7 percent of the health care dollar. Hospitals would be affected more. They might not be able to charge $13 to give you a Tylenol. I am sure it would cut into Pharma profits, though. Pharma companies might have to reduce the size of their sales forces or stop working on me-too drugs and instead be forced to pursue innovative medicines that they can demand a large profit for even in a managed system. They also might not be able to rip off patients like they do in our present system, because a managed system would not allow it (see the last paragraph of my post here on May 13, 2007 11:10 AM for the Avastin/Lucentis situation).

How would a single payer system change what you do or the way the companies operate? Right now the best and brightest usually go where the money is.

I don’t think it would affect this at all. I could work in a pharma company in Sweden or Germany or Switzerland and make the same amount of money, or more. They don’t have our wonderful free health care system.

Do they suffer the long diagnostic wait times that Canada and the UK have?

Why don’t you ask about wait times in the US? I guess you assume that ours are the best. Actually, it’s hard to tell, because “there is no systemized collection of data on wait times in the U.S.” Europe keeps very detailed data on wait times. It’s funny that the US doesn’t. Why wouldn’t they want to advertise their superiority? Anyway, according to this article, the wait times in the UK are very low. The wait times in the US were only better than those in Canada.

Lastly, can you tell me just one time that the government get involved and things actually improved?

I think they do a good job of delivering a letter across the country for only 42 cents.

Sir Napsalot:

Name the drugs and real research created by these socialist haven Universities

All basic research is done at Universities, upon which all drug discoveries are based. This is the most labor intencive and critical part of research. Universities start many projects. Once they get somewhere they are sold to pharma companies who tweak the lead compound and put it into the clinic. Basically, Universities do the work until it is clear that money can be made from the project, at which point the pharma companies take over. There are also many partnerships between pharma and Universities. One project I worked on was started by the University of Pittsburgh, then we worked on it with them after they had devolped it to an advanced stage.

Obama: Gee, a single-payer health-care system would be sweet

Why do the G*d damn socialist/Marxist Democrats want to force this failed Canadian health care crap down our throats? WHY???

The dems came up with Social Security, then slowly took it apart by stealing the funds (L. Johnson), include illegal aliens in the plan ( J. Carter), and lastly, taxing it (B. Clinton). They couldn’t keep their promises then, so why should Americans believe them now. Just look at the cost of gasoline, which show, the Democrats can’t be trusted to govern!

- The Cat

MirCat on August 19, 2008 at 5:07 PM

Maybe in this instance, Obama is talking about the HMOs and health insurance industry.

But I am pretty sure the Dems also have a universal healthcare plan to cover everybody.

dave742,
Name the drugs and real research created by these socialist haven Universities.

dave742 on August 19, 2008 at 6:51 PM

Dave, thanks for the answer, although I’m not so sure what to make of it. I’m not sure the drug comapnies are the ones doing the diabetes research, specifically relating to beta cell regeneration or stopping the process of their destruction, but the question still stands. How would socialized medicine effect the drug companies? How would a single payer system change what you do or the way the companies operate? Right now the best and brightest usually go where the money is. I assume salaries would go down, thus discouraging some from entering the fields. Not to sound cynical, but rarely are the smartest motivated by low pay and hard work.
Also the comaprison to France isn’t necessarily accurate. In the US doctors are compelled to perform every medical test they can in order to avoid malpractice, driving per patient cost up. If doctors malpractice premiums weren’t so high, and doctors only did the tests they felt necessary, costs would go down quite a bit. Also, how available is medical care in France? Do they suffer the long diagnostic wait times that Canada and the UK have?
Lastly, can you tell me just one time that the government get involved and things actually improved? (somewhat tongue in cheek!)

If Obama imposes single-payer health insurance on America, we should logically expect costs to quadruple.

Health care in the US has been shown by countless studies to be by far the most expensive in the world. According to the OECD, France pays a total of $3,038 per person, and the US pays $5,711 per person. If Obama imposes single-payer health insurance on America, we should logically expect costs to fall by 47%.

I’d sure as hell rather not dismantle the incredible research system America has that is working for a cure

I have been working in pharmaceutical research for over 20 years as a medicinal chemist. The research system in this country completely blows. Research is about making money, not saving lives. 80% of my career has not been spent doing research on making novel drugs, but making me-too drugs in order to capture a segment of the market. Say company A makes drug A. Company B will work for years tweaking Drug A in such a way to get around company A’s patent, and come up with a drug that is nearly identical to drug A. Then they’ll spend hundreds of millions in development to get the drug through the FDA, spend tens of millions more paying hundreds of salesman to sell the drug, and the public ends up with a drug that is nearly identical to the original. But company B has a better sales force, and can maybe capture 60% of Company A’s market. It’s all a complete joke. If you took all the money the pharmaceutical industry wastes on making identical drugs and doing identical research, and all the money they waste on sales forces, and put that money into making novel drugs, things would be immeasurably better. I’ve been collecting a salary for over 20 years and have only worked on one project that even made it into the clinic! It’s one big giant scam. Splitting research into dozens of compannies and have all the companies do the same thing is a joke.

Guess who does all the real research that does get done in this country. Universities. The damned socialist organizations.

- The Cat

A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often….

And please, could we have numbers on how much malpractice insurance costs as a percentage of all medical spendings?

I’ve seen estimates run to 5-6% of a practice’s gross revenues.

It’s not just the premium payment as part of a practice’s overhead costs — it’s the defensive medicine that the threat of malpractice produces. 2 distinct phenomena.

Why? Our closest example of socialized health care is Canada, and Canadians end up coming across the border to have procedures done and to receive treatments.

amerpundit on August 19, 2008 at 10:46 AM

So basically people in Canada have an exit strategy when the system in Canada fails. Most of the time, people stay there because they don’t need to come over, and EVERYONE is insured, but in some cases they just come here and pay to get service.

In our case, you can always pay (just like the Canadians who come here), but for the routine stuff, millions of people have no coverage. And those same people end up going to the emergency room and they can, among other solutions, go bankrupt or send the bill to the rest of us. Looks like it’s better to be Canadian.

Canadians also pay their drugs cheaper. We end up subsidizing the rest of the world by paying inflated (in relation to others) prices for medication.

And if it were “unbroken” what it would look like?

There are some Americans who go without food, is our nutrition system broken too?

Bishop on August 19, 2008 at 10:58 AM

It would look like everyone getting a decent insurance and the possibility of jumping the line to those who can afford it.

As for our nutrition system, if some Americans go without food, I would love to know what can we do to ensure they have food. Somehow it doesn’t make me happy to know that they go without food. We spend so much money on health care, we can clearly do a better job there.

And please, could we have numbers on how much malpractice insurance costs as a percentage of all medical spendings?

Obama: Gee, a single-payer health-care system would be sweet

If Barack Obama had his druthers, he told an Albuquerque audience yesterday, he’d have a single-payer system for managing health care.
Unfortunately, the transition would throw……

And who’s “special in this country”?

Why Democrat politicians and their well-heeled doners.

Who of course will use a separate, but equal, gold-plated system.

Sort of like how Democrats extol public schools, while sending their precious offspring to private schools.

Democrats – Because they’re more equal than you are.

I worked in France for 10 years, where they have a government-funded health insurance system (called Social Security, but it’s health insurance, not retirement) which pays 30-60% of most medical expenses, and money is withheld from people’s paychecks (proportional to income) to fund it. Most people subscribe to “mutuelle” (private insurance) to cover remaining expenses, generally at a fixed price per person. Although Social Security and “mutuelle” paid about equal benefits, Social Security cost me four times more at the time (1985-95).

If Obama imposes single-payer health insurance on America, we should logically expect costs to quadruple. No thanks!!!

Even when I was there, the system was already ‘somewhat’ broken. It started out with families of patients gave some money to surgeons and doctors as a way of thanking them for the care, progressed to the bribe money before the surgery, then onto the ‘administratives’ for scheduling the surgery (ahead of other patients). And if you are ‘special’(wink wink, RICH), you can have VIP treatments: you have direct access to the better doctors.

And Taiwan is a small country. I just don’t see how US will handle the true universal healthcare.

:)

Seriously, that sounds good to me.

Bishop on August 19, 2008 at 11:53 AM

Torte reform. Everytime the Repubs propose it, the Dumbocrats shoot it down.

Remember this quote,

Barack is a lawyer. I’m a lawyer. All of our friends our lawyers.

–Michelle Obama

1. Eliminate Medicare; Social Security benefits are increased for low-income seniors so they can pay premiums for private health insurance. Non-poor seniors pay for health insurance just like everyone else. Insurers cannot reject coverage for any senior.

2. Eliminate Medicaid; provide 100% tax credit for hospitals and doctors to treat indigent patients.

3. Cap malpractice awards and prohibit contingency suits for malpractice. Establish automatic schedule of payments for medical errors not due to malpractice. Revoke medical license upon second conviction of malpractice.

4. Tax the hell out of all medical advertising to pay for the above.

5. Require health insurers to offer at least four levels of coverage so that well people can afford a basic policy and sick people can get insured.

6. Encourage nonprofit organizations to open free and low-cost health clinics and “healthmobiles” in inner cities and rural areas to treat routine non-emergency problems. Forgive student loan debt for doctors and nurses who agree to work for at least 5 years in such clinics. Allow other doctors and nurses to take a tax deduction for hours worked “pro bono” in such clinics.

7. Future settlements on things like asbestos must go into a special government fund for care of victims. No huge contingency fees to lawyers.