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Perhaps the problem is more that there exists expensive treatments. As long as they exist, people will be upset at not getting them. When they don't exist, peop

Perhaps the problem is more that there exists expensive treatments. As long as they exist, people will be upset at not getting them. When they don't exist, people won't blame anyone for their death. Imagine if some miracle cancer cure is discovered but it genuinely costs a million dollars (not just due to patents). There'll be no option but to let uninsured poor people die. There might not be enough money in the country to actually save them all.

eigenvector 9y ago
Considering that the USA spent $1.9 trillion on the Iraq war, something that was quite literally not needed by anyone, I wouldn't be so sure that money couldn't be found to provide lifesaving treatment and research technological advancements to bring its cost down in the long term.
- CobrastanJorji 9y ago
  In this scenario, that $2 trillion would prevent about a quarter of the deaths from cancer in one year, except that spending was over a decade, so assuming that we could spend at that same rate perpetually, replacing Iraq War spending with million dollar cancer cures would prevent about 2% of cancer deaths.
  - ShorsHammer 9y ago
    Do you have a source for that $2 trillion/ quarter of all deaths figure? I understand healthcare in the US costs far more than in the rest of the developed world, but those calculations seem quite wrong. http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2016.34.15_suppl.6618 http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2016.34.15_suppl.661... > In the EU in 2012 the estimated cancer incidence was 2.6 million cases. The estimated cancer mortality was 1.3 million deaths, accounting for 26% of all deaths. DHCC (direct health cost of cancer) in the whole EU increased from €79 to €86 billion during 2005-2014 (in 2014 prices) The population of the EU is over 500 million people. The annual taxation needed to afford this level of care ranges from 50-270 euros per person across the region.
xbmcuser 9y ago
the problem would be that the miracle cure would be patented so others won't be able to work on it to bring the price down.
candiodari 9y ago
It's not just expensive treatments unfortunately. A very significant proportion of healthcare expenditure comes from caring for patients that can't take care of themselves (in fact that's 90% of the reason hospitals exist at all).

eigenvector 9y ago

Considering that the USA spent $1.9 trillion on the Iraq war, something that was quite literally not needed by anyone, I wouldn't be so sure that money couldn't be found to provide lifesaving treatment and research technological advancements to bring its cost down in the long term.

CobrastanJorji 9y ago
In this scenario, that $2 trillion would prevent about a quarter of the deaths from cancer in one year, except that spending was over a decade, so assuming that we could spend at that same rate perpetually, replacing Iraq War spending with million dollar cancer cures would prevent about 2% of cancer deaths.
- ShorsHammer 9y ago
  Do you have a source for that $2 trillion/ quarter of all deaths figure? I understand healthcare in the US costs far more than in the rest of the developed world, but those calculations seem quite wrong. http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2016.34.15_suppl.6618 http://ascopubs.org/doi/abs/10.1200/JCO.2016.34.15_suppl.661... > In the EU in 2012 the estimated cancer incidence was 2.6 million cases. The estimated cancer mortality was 1.3 million deaths, accounting for 26% of all deaths. DHCC (direct health cost of cancer) in the whole EU increased from €79 to €86 billion during 2005-2014 (in 2014 prices) The population of the EU is over 500 million people. The annual taxation needed to afford this level of care ranges from 50-270 euros per person across the region.

xbmcuser 9y ago

the problem would be that the miracle cure would be patented so others won't be able to work on it to bring the price down.

candiodari 9y ago

It's not just expensive treatments unfortunately. A very significant proportion of healthcare expenditure comes from caring for patients that can't take care of themselves (in fact that's 90% of the reason hospitals exist at all).