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A "caravan" of Americans living with Type 1 diabetes made its way across the U.S. border into Canada over the weekend in search of affordable medical care in a country where they can get the "exact same" life-saving drugs for a dramatically lower price.
"We're on a #CaravanToCanada because the USA charges astronomical prices for insulin that most people can't afford," tweeted caravan member Quinn Nystrom as she shared updates on the journey.
Nystrom was among a group of Minnesotans who piled into cars on Friday to make the 600-mile journey from the Twin Cities to Fort Frances, Ontario, where she said insulin, the hormone patients with Type 1 Diabetes rely on to regulate their blood glucose levels, can be bought for a tenth of what it costs in the U.S.
The caravan was organized as part of a campaign launched under the banner "#insulinforall" to call on the U.S. government to regulate the cost of life-saving drugs, including insulin, and make medication affordable for anyone who needs it.
[...]
President Donald Trump's administration has vowed to address calls for greater drug pricing regulation. But, Democrats, including Cummings, have criticized the U.S. leader for being all talk and no action on that promise.
"Tweets are not enough," Cummings said in a statement, after Trump lamented high drug costs on Twitter. "We need real action and meaningful reform," Cummings said.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 07 2019, @10:41PM (5 children)
The democrats' masters profit from the current system just as much as the republicans' masters. In many cases it is the same masters. Both sides will use the other for an excuse to not fix the system and it won't be fixed until you start electing people who represent you instead of some lizards.
Your number one priority should be to separate healthcare insurance from employment:
Rational reason - This will apply actual market forces to bringing down prices and increasing competition.
Ethical reason - Who you work for should not impact your health insurance
Economic reason 1 - This will make it much easier for people to switch jobs, increasing liquidity in the job market.
Economic reason 2 - It will make it easier for people to start new small businesses, which can be a major economic driver.
(Score: 3, Informative) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday May 08 2019, @04:52PM (4 children)
Your first paragraph is patently false if one pays attention. IIRC Obama wanted universal single payer, but he wanted a bi-partisan solution more. The ACA was spawned from a Heritage Foundation idea, and was done to make it more palatable for Republicans (unfortunately they had obstruction on their minds). Democrats did something somewhat unpopular (the ACA), Republicans' plan was to do nothing (even more unpopular). Calling them equivalent is a fallacy.
Your second paragraph is good, but incomplete. The number one priority should be to separate profit from healthcare.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 08 2019, @05:13PM (3 children)
Must have annoyed somebody, they modded it redundant. :)
There are groups that make large profits of the current system. These groups have enough influence with both red and blue that those profits are not going away easily. That's what I meant about both sides being the same. Neither side really wants to fix the system if that is going to impact profits. They will make superficial changes that seem to fit their respective ideology, but at the end of it you find that the cost to you has gone up and so have their profits. Then it's halftime, the teams change places and the new team changes it back, but somehow it costs even more.
Regarding separating profit from healthcare, that is ridiculous. The people working in healthcare have a right to make a living, and those investing in the machines and drugs to make a return on that investment.
What needs to be done is to separate health insurance from profit. The huge profits that insurance companies make are simply an unneeded cost on healthcare. The paperwork load and administrative crap overhead that they require is a massive externality they impose on the health system.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday May 09 2019, @05:42PM (2 children)
Wasn't me; you did make some good points in your previous post.
Emphasis mine quoted above. You said it yourself: the current system reaps massive profits. THIS is why it costs so damned much. THIS is why it must be separated from healthcare, period.
I do agree that both sides are too interested in "how can we pay for healthcare" instead of "how do we reduce the cost of healthcare".
But please, stop with the equivalency fallacy; both sides are NOT the same. Anyone who claims this is not paying attention. One side tried to do something about it, and the other actively obstructed instead of contributing to a solution. Not. The. Same.
Every other civilized country on the planet manages it, why can't we? Yes, there would be job losses but that would be in the administration and paperwork part.
And those investors would STILL make a healthy profit, just not the obscene ones they get now.
Agreed, but also remove profit from all other aspects of healthcare as well.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 09 2019, @11:51PM
In every other country with a working healthcare system, the people both within the system and supplying the system make money. Doctors and surgeons are highly paid. Nurses too, though I think they should get more. Equipment and drugs are sold at a profit. Making a reasonable profit is not the problem. Demanding a non-profit system is not going to fly, and will get you dismissed as a crank.
The problems are multiple:
-Medical insurance in the USA is making unreasonable profits. They extract huge amounts of money for what is basically very bad administration.
-The system encourages really inefficient use of resources. Emergency room care for what should be doctor or nurse practitioner visits.
-The disconnect between tests run at a profit and who pays for the tests encourages high prices and over-servicing. Lawsuit happy patients contribute to the CYA-more-tests syndrome.
-Exorbitant drug prices and patent/generic policies which encourage this.
BUT, the main problem,
Market forces do not apply to health insurance. The people selecting the plan are not the people using or paying for it. I would bet that in almost any company with more than 100 employees that the owners of the company do not have the same healthcare plan as they buy for the company employees.
You want to fix the system properly, single payer and universal coverage is the way to go. Currently unachievable because 'socialism' = 'communism' = 'bad'.
You want to make the system massively better with a simple change? Pass a law that says 'any healthcare plan available to a company must also be available to people on an individual and family basis at the same rate, irrespective of employment'.
Bonus points for mandating that insurance cover must act as insurance, and does NOT get to decide which providers they will pay. They can put the amount in the policy, but they cannot decide who carries out the treatment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 10 2019, @04:52AM
You have fallen for their bullshit. Both sides have had simultaneous control of both houses and the presidency at sometime in the past few years. Either side could have implemented anything they wanted. Both sides found excuses not to. Apparently the Blue side is better at convincing people they tried, but it is not true.
Getting engagement from the Red team would have been good, but it was not necessary, and any argument that it was is just another excuse.