The point is at most as strong as the share of innovative medicines in health care. Which doesn't seem all that big to me as layman. My home country (where I d

The point is at most as strong as the share of innovative medicines in health care. Which doesn't seem all that big to me as layman. My home country (where I don't live now, due to marriage) reformed its health care system to close around half the hospital beds and boost prevention starting around 1995. Encouraging biking to work, encouraging playing sports once a week with your teammates, less pollution, the list is long. The country has better health now than before the reform, and better than the US too. It's difficult for me to believe that new medicines play a large role in improving health overall. A nonzero benefit, sure, that's easy to believe. But the premise of that article is that new medicines play a large role, perhaps even the largest role, and I find that difficult to believe.