#1

There are discussions in other threads about the reasons for why US healthcare is so much more expensive, yet so much less effective.

A very big reason is just an unbelievable amount of corruption, fraud and bribery with companies from biotech ones like Amgen to old traditional ones like J&J consciously killing hundreds of thousands people, and some 500,000 in the US alone with just one cancer drug alone.

Nobody comes out of this looking good, not researchers, not regulators, not executives, not doctors, not administrators.

This is the story of just one drug. It’s the tip of an iceberg.

The Johnson & Johnson cancer drug scandal that encapsulates corruption in health care

“Lies, feckless government oversight, and the participation of nearly every oncologist and cancer hospital in the country are all part of this story.”

“In nearly every case, the results had been kept secret, and none of these researchers had been brave enough to blow the whistle.”

“Again and again over the years, cancer doctors have tended to favor drugs that gave them the most money, whether those drugs worked better than other drugs or not.”

“Many pa­tients pay a portion of those costs out of their own pockets. So, as doctors enrich themselves, some also bankrupt their patients and — because their prescribing decisions are based on profits instead of effectiveness — undermine their patients’ health.”

“It is also the grim reality of cancer care in the United States and is among the chief reasons why Americans who get cancer tend to die earlier and poorer than their European counterparts.”

“But such pre­scriptions undermine almost everything oncologists say they stand for, since the drug can actually shorten life, and leave the victim’s family impoverished financially as well as emotionally.”

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#2

Discussions in the US devolve into an unfortunate capitalism vs socialism fight. When a large amount of government funding goes into an industry, that industry can hardly be considered a free market, but when the profit motive is absent, innovation suffers . I am referring to the electric utility industry --not healthcare. Electricity is highly reliable and fairly affordable. Both government and private groups have established strict rules to protect workers and the public. Fwiw, the IEC in Europe seems a bit more innovative than the US combo of NEC, NEMA, IEEE, etc. If we want to reform healthcare, it might be worth looking at the electrical industry.

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#3

FWIW…

In 2009, Pfizer paid the largest health care fraud settlement in US history, a total of $2.3 billion, to resolve allegations of illegal promotion of several drugs, including Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and Lyrica.

Nothing New, same play book different Company…that was caught.

And another Company caught link below.

.US settles biggest ever healthcare fraud case - PMC

The real fact is …

“The connivance never stops.”

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#4

I had a business manufacturing a med device in Canada and selling it in the US market for 8 years. Overall I was in that industry for 13 years. I made decent bank doing that, thanks!!

We ran it by the book and never abused the system. But I was quite aware of people who milked the HCPCS codes to find the fast buck and watched people make millions in short spurts until the loop hole of the month got closed.

While one can rightfully point to big pharma related fraud, that is only a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost of health care in the US.

The US healthcare system is the most expensive globally, with spending exceeding $4 trillion in 2022 and projected to increase to around 20% of GDP by 2031, per capita health spending is significantly higher than in other high-income nations

It is hard to have a good conversation on this topic due to this…

Discussions in the US devolve into an unfortunate capitalism vs socialism fight…

…because many confuse universal health care with “socialism”. Why does this apply to health care and not to the following?

Certain public services/resources would fall under the tag of “socialism” but most people are programmed by those who make HUGE amounts of money off the US healthcare system, to believe that “capitalism” is the only way to deliver health care… Just like “trickle down economics”, it’s a screen to enrich the rich while the little guy helps protect the “American Dream” with his/her defence of the get rich “dream”.

Those wealthy health care corporate types use the lobby system and the “free enterprise” hook to make it seem like a, for profit health care system is the best way to deliver health care.

Some other public services at are not for profit;

  1. fire services
  2. police services
  3. military services
  4. public schools

Yes companies that sell to and profit off those public services make good money, that is capitalism at work. But the core “business” of providing that service is not for profit.

Health care can be that way, the core service as a not for profit, universal service and the companies that provide equipment, software, consumables, drugs, etc make the profit. Just like the 4 examples above.

Some will say “you get what your pay for” but that leads to the question, how much can you afford? if you can’t pay the piper, you are left out of the US health care system.

Instead in the US you have massive bureaucracies deciding who gets what and for that “service” they make billions pushing paper with ZERO benefit to the people who need health care. In this particular case, the insurance companies are parasites feeding off a bloated and slowly dying corpse.

None of this is new…

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