Drugs in the United States can cost as much as 35 times more than the same drug in Germany.
The Germans have developed a system of non-profit "insurance" companies that help cover costs for citizens. New drugs that are introduced on the market are now thoroughly tested and reviewed, and if they do not provide more benefits than the old drug, the new price is not paid. " Drug prices there are already lower than in the U.S. because sickness funds negotiate<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/themes/drug.html> with both physician groups and drug manufacturers to set costs of all treatments across the board. In the U.S., Medicare isn't even allowed<http://www.vox.com/2014/4/11/5601562/how-can-one-pill-cost-1000> to negotiate lower drug prices." This is to counter big pharma introducing several new drugs on the market that do nothing different to old drugs, but cost a lot more, forcing the cost of treatment upwards. "In a truly competitive market, both the prices and the inherent qualities of the goods or services being traded are known to all parties ahead of any trade," he wrote in the *Times'* Economix blog<http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/health-care-prices-move-to-center-stage/>. "By contrast, in the American healthcare market, both the price and the quality of health care have been kept studiously hidden from patients." http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/why-medicine-is-cheaper-in-germany/371418/ Sounds like a good system. ᧠~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:370373 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
