5 ms·
I live in New Zealand - we've chosen to have socialised medicine - we buy drugs in bulk, for the whole country - it gives the national drug buying agency lots o
by Taniwha 11y ago
I live in New Zealand - we've chosen to have socialised medicine - we buy drugs in bulk, for the whole country - it gives the national drug buying agency lots of market power - it doesn't force drug companies to sell to us under cost - but it does pick and choose hich drugs it buys with its limited budget - if they want our business they have to compete with other companies in front of a knowledgable experienced buyer acting on our behalf.
No one here is getting drugs for free, just at reasonable prices that may not be available in the US
TPP as currently written will neuter this advantage costing us billions that will come out of my taxes
- harryh 11y agoThat sounds like a great reason for New Zealand to not enter the partnership. I don't see why it's a reason for the US to object?
- wirelesskarma 11y agoSame for us in Australia. Both Australia and New Zealand are getting the spiky end of the stick in regards to pharmaceuticals, we have a similar system of socialised medicine.
- mcv 11y agoIt's probably very similar for most industrialized countries to some extent. In Netherland (which probably has the most expensive health care in Europe), insurance companies negotiate about the prices, which means those companies decide which medicine is and isn't covered, and while they still have a reasonable amount of negotiating power, it's not as much as that of a more centralized approach. Still better than the US approach, but certainly the weakest of the EU.
- chetanahuja 11y agoWel yeah... US govt has very large buying power to so by simple market economics, the US govt gets as good a deal as... oh wait. Shit. They made it illegal for themselves to negotiate. Oops. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/under-the-influence/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/under-the-influence/