As I have written in Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexities of Healthcare, there are many problems with the American healthcare system. The number one problem is the high cost. It is not the cost of the insurance, it is the cost of delivering the healthcare. Billions of dollars are spent on legal fees to settle suits brought against providers. The result is providers practice defensive medicine. They change how they practice medicine by adding extra and medically unnecessary tests and procedures costing between a half and one-and-a-half trillion dollars per year.
A second major cost problem is the double-digit growth in the cost of drugs which burdens millions, many to the point of bankruptcy. Part of the solution to this problem is really easy. Allow Medicare, the largest healthcare buyer in the world, to negotiate the price of drugs they pay for. Legislation in 2003 prevents them from doing so. Other developed countries pay far less than we do for the same exact drugs. In effect we subsidize their cost of drugs. This simple change could immediately save at least ten billion dollars per year. Everyone knows about this problem, but they do nothing. Why? There are 1,100 pharmaceutical lobbyists. The industry spends $200+ million dollars per year. Much goes to our political leaders who then vote for what is best for the industry, not what is best for the citizens they are supposed to represent.
The industry is getting nervous Congress might actually do something. The New York Times reported the lobbying group, called the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), increased its annual dues by 50 percent to raise an extra $100 million “to flood social media, television stations, as well as newspapers and magazines with advertising that reminds consumers of the industry’s role in helping to save lives.”
Every week Congress is in session, the industry holds fund-raisers at private clubs and restaurants to help bankroll the re-election campaigns of its supporters. In late April, for example, a PhRMA Industry Breakfast was hosted for Representative John Shimkus of Illinois. Shimkus saved pharmaceutical companies billions of dollars by convincing the Obama administration to stop an effort to test how to lower the cost of the Medicare prescription drug program, which spent nearly $25 billion on prescription drugs in 2015. Mr. Shimkus received nearly $300,000 in drug-industry contributions in the last election cycle. He led an effort to get 242 members of the House to agree to challenge the cost saving effort. Unfortunately, this is just one of many examples of how corrupt our Congress is.
Another aspect of the drug industry I have written extensively about is to disallow television advertising of expensive drugs most people do not need. No other developed country in the world allows direct-to-consumer drug advertising. The lobbyists convinced Congress consumers would not otherwise know about important drugs. Baloney. Consumers know how to research symptoms, diagnoses, treatments, and efficacy on the Internet. The billions of dollars spent on advertising reduce what can be spent on research for new drugs. The AMA, which represents more than 200,000 physicians wants the ads banned. They believe, as I do, TV advertising encourages use of high cost drugs when lower cost generic drugs can often produce the same or better results.
In summary, the problem with healthcare is not the doctors, the insurance companies, the drug companies, or the hospitals. The problem is our corrupt Congress. Their top priority is to get re-elected. Read much more about how to fix the American healthcare system in Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexities of Healthcare.
Source: Drug Lobbyists’ Battle Cry Over Prices: Blame the Others – The New York Times
