undefined | Better HN

0 pointseru6y ago0 comments

Yes, the medical system in the US sucks. There are parts of the world where it works much better. (And not all of them have socialized health care.)

In any case, the socialized health care probably doesn't cover the drugs that get to exported to foreigners like you?

> Unreasonably high costs for prescription meds in the US is not unusual.

Yes, that's a separate problem.

Enabling (re-) imports is an important safety valve. Medical tourism is another.

Ideally, the US would fix their healthcare system. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

0 comments

DanBC6y ago

> In any case, the socialized health care probably doesn't cover the drugs that get to exported to foreigners like you?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but large markets (socialised healthcare systems) can negotiate a fair market price for medications. This is something that the US system prevents.

Have a look at mebendazole. It's on the WHO list of essential medication. It's old so available as generic.

In the UK this costs a few pounds per tablet. https://bnf.nice.org.uk/medicinal-forms/mebendazole.html

In the US it currently costs $440 (about £340) per tablet.

There are many similar examples: Americans pay huge amounts for medications that should be cheap.

eruOP6y ago

In economics, the usual prescription for high price despite low manufacturing costs is to lower barriers to entry.

There's probably a legal reason why someone can't just set up a company to buy mebendazole in bulk in the UK and ship it to the US and sell it for eg $200 per tablet?

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

> There are parts of the world where it works much better. (And not all of them have socialized health care.)

Almost all developed countries have socialized healthcare. What countries do you have in mind?

eruOP6y ago

It depends a bit on exactly what you mean by socialized, but I have the Singaporean system in mind. (I was just quoting Cougher when using the term socialized.)

Singapore has some of the best healthcare outcomes in the world, and costs about half as much as a share of GDP per capita as the British NHS.

Where the American system seems to combine the worst of public and private healthcare, Singapore combines the best.

In the Singaporean system individuals use a health savings account to pay for small, routine health care costs. The insurance part of the system only kicks in for larger, costlier, uncertain items.

There's plenty of subsidies for poor people, too.

See eg https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/upshot/singapore-health-s... for an American perspective. There's also plenty of easy to find material on the web.

I especially like that doctors usually have a list with price ranges for their most common items hanging out prominently. Very transparent.

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

Singapore has socialized healthcare. On the provider side, most of the hospitals are owned by the government. On the insurance side, employees are required by the government to pay into health savings accounts (with nearly matching employer contributions). There are additional public insurance schemes for the poor and elderly. On top of that, costs in the public hospitals are subsidized to a significant extent.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

DanBC6y ago

> In any case, the socialized health care probably doesn't cover the drugs that get to exported to foreigners like you?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but large markets (socialised healthcare systems) can negotiate a fair market price for medications. This is something that the US system prevents.

Have a look at mebendazole. It's on the WHO list of essential medication. It's old so available as generic.

In the UK this costs a few pounds per tablet. https://bnf.nice.org.uk/medicinal-forms/mebendazole.html

In the US it currently costs $440 (about £340) per tablet.

There are many similar examples: Americans pay huge amounts for medications that should be cheap.

eruOP6y ago

In economics, the usual prescription for high price despite low manufacturing costs is to lower barriers to entry.

There's probably a legal reason why someone can't just set up a company to buy mebendazole in bulk in the UK and ship it to the US and sell it for eg $200 per tablet?

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

> There are parts of the world where it works much better. (And not all of them have socialized health care.)

Almost all developed countries have socialized healthcare. What countries do you have in mind?

eruOP6y ago

It depends a bit on exactly what you mean by socialized, but I have the Singaporean system in mind. (I was just quoting Cougher when using the term socialized.)

Singapore has some of the best healthcare outcomes in the world, and costs about half as much as a share of GDP per capita as the British NHS.

Where the American system seems to combine the worst of public and private healthcare, Singapore combines the best.

In the Singaporean system individuals use a health savings account to pay for small, routine health care costs. The insurance part of the system only kicks in for larger, costlier, uncertain items.

There's plenty of subsidies for poor people, too.

See eg https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/upshot/singapore-health-s... for an American perspective. There's also plenty of easy to find material on the web.

I especially like that doctors usually have a list with price ranges for their most common items hanging out prominently. Very transparent.

DiogenesKynikos6y ago

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse