By Jess Jones
Bernie Sanders has been running advertisements about “patients before profits,” blaming deaths in America on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. I could understand that belief if he grew up in a small town outside Havana where the government controlled every aspect of his information and all innovation had been frozen on the day of the revolution, but he can’t make that claim. Sadly, the spectacular ignorance underlying the belief is a common problem.
Let’s start to dispel the notion that profit-seeking is a problem by pointing out some current events. The coronavirus that is causing global panic and bringing superpowers to their knees seems to be the most pressing concern of the day. According to an article in statnews.com, there are nine treatments and vaccines of note to tackle the global pandemic. All of them are being developed by for-profit companies. None of the governments, universities, or NGOs is near development. Can Bernie explain why it is that Gilead and eight other for-profit companies are closer to helping the world than the NIH, the NHS, the Canadian health care system, Denmark, China, the E.U., or any university? What happens when his policies eliminate those for-profits?
At least his ignorance about how profit benefits patients has been consistent. An article penned by Bernie in 1969, “Cancer, Disease, and Society,” describes how cancer is brought on by psychological distress caused by “angry b—- teachers” who won’t let children disrupt class, sexually repressive mothers who don’t let their teenage daughters have sex, and forcing children to go to school…among other cancer-inducing stressors. In that article, he goes on to berate those who think cancer can be resolved by money and “a handful of specialists.” Perhaps he has missed the good news of the past 30 years, during which a for-profit company called Merck financed the research of a specialist named Dr. Frazer to create an HPV vaccine that prevents most cervical cancer in young women, caused in part by the promiscuity he said would provide the cure. Thousands of breast cancer survivors can thank the specialists Dr. Ullrich and Dr. Shepard and the for-profit company Genentech for Herceptin, a safe and highly effective antibody to prevent reoccurrence of breast cancer in women — undoubtedly brought on by years of sexual repression and having to listen to those “angry b—-” teachers. Will Bernie apologize to the millions of women who would have died had we eliminated for-profit health care in 1969?
Not only are for-profit medical innovations silently protecting the thousands of young women and men you see in Bernie’s rallies, but they are also responsible for keeping him in the presidential campaign. Without billions of dollars invested by for-profit medical technology companies competing in the cardiovascular space, his voice would currently be barely audible as he wheezed through the pain of recovering from a chest plate that has been sawn in half and ribs bent back to allow bypass tubes to be tied onto his clogged coronary arteries. Instead, he is loudly bellowing out his disdain for the medical industry with spectacularly advanced miniature cages propping up his coronary arteries from within. When death came knocking at his door, specialists used advanced imaging devices created by for-profit medical imaging companies (e.g., GE Healthcare, Phillips, Siemens) to guide wires with balloons and cages into his heart to reverse the heart attack. The “cage” was probably a second-generation drug eluting stent created by one of our for-profit medical technology companies (e.g., Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Abbott), after dozens of iterations and billions of dollars of investment. Bernie was probably able to resume the incredible rigor of the campaign trail in a matter of 1–2 days rather than suffering 6 or more weeks of painful rehabilitation. None of the devices keeping Bernie alive and healthy would have been possible without a profit motive driving investment and innovation.
Profit-seeking companies have cured cancer, reversed heart disease, and created every other advance you can name for the past 100 years of medicine. A tiny fraction of innovation comes out of the NIH or non-profit society grants — and those discoveries would invariably sit on the shelf without the work and investment of profit-seeking venture capitalists and companies guiding the idea through clinical trials, regulatory hurdles, and production. The majority of the profits that provide the incentive for innovators worldwide come from the U.S., and other health care systems piggyback (and rip off) our system to take advantage of the innovation that we provide. In short, the U.S. market and the for-profit health care industry that serves it is the world’s golden goose for global medical innovations…so please, Bernie, put patients before socialism and stop attacking profits.
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Bernie is a politician, that is to say he’s a pandering moron, just like all politicians. What he has to say about medical care or pharmaceuticals is just noise to gain votes. Should this idiot get elected, he will quickly fall in line with the kakistocracy / corporatocracy and forget all about whatever nonsense he espoused during his campaign.
Vaccines are no panacea. They cause lots of harm. Why else is there a ‘vaccine court’ to dole out money to people harmed by vaccines?
Big pharma is out of control. It’s their stuff that’s causing all the mass shooting incidents due to the side effects of their poison. Psychiatry is total bullshit and prescribes the poison big pharma manufactures at an outrageous profit.
No one sane wants to curtain legitimate research into disease, but the money isn’t in curing disease it’s in managing it – over years of drug taking. If someone had a real cure for cancer, he’s be knocked off before tomorrow morning.
Let’s not cry for big pharma or the medical mafia. Your average pill pusher makes a good living taking credit for what the body’s immune system actually accomplishes.
What needs to be reigned in is the fraud and bullshit in the medical field and doctors should be educated in nutrition and disease prevention. Doctors should be encouraged to tell their patients they’re fat slobs and to lose a hundred pounds when some obese couch potato appears.
Many people can’t afford our wonderful pill-pushing healthcare system.
It is evident that you have never dealt with the American medical system.
Yes, even today it is not only possible, but is advisable to talk to the hospital and doctor’s billing departments about charges if you disagree with them or if you have problems with payment.
The “dirty little secret” is that, if you agree to a “payment plan” you are obligated for the total agreed-upon charges, BUT you can pay them as little as $5 per month and they will leave you alone and not dun you for more.
Being involuntarily unemployed and not having health insurance for a while, I was able to get substantial discounts for medical services after explaining my situation.
In some cases, the charges were totally waived.
This was not only for routine doctor visits, but for procedures performed in major medical centers. My primary care physician halved his charges and then some.
In many cases, you will get the “discounted” rate-the rate at which insurers and hospitals agree upon.
No, I did not avail myself of the medicaid system, but was considered to be a “private pay” patient.
For your information, president Trump is requiring hospitals to publicly submit lists of charges “for services rendered”. The hospitals are not happy about this, but will go along.
Actually I have dealt with hospitals and knocked down the actual amount owed by just waiting. I have made payments also. the system is still a joke as far as I am concerned.
As to Trump, I wonder what our healthcare would be like if old Johny McCain hadn’t voted against Trump’s plan.
If you think “healthcare” is expensive now, wait till it’s “free”.
Taxes will have to be raised to confiscatory levels.
The most egregious aspects of “socialized healthcare” will be the “wait” for services, and the fact that some government official will make your healthcare decisions for you–some lifesaving drugs and services will be deemed “too expensive” and unavailable. Woe to you if you are elderly…you will be denied lifesaving treatments-euthanasia as a government mandate.
Not only that, but, if you choose to obtain your healthcare services in another country, you will be prohibited from doing so. Look at the two infants who were denied the right to travel for healthcare that the British National Health System was unable to provide, despite the offshore healthcare services being provided at no cost to the parents. The National Health System refused to “allow” the infants to receive treatment in another country, and essentially held the infants “hostage”.
Add to that, experimental treatments will not be allowed, no matter the possible efficacy and success.
Is this what we want?
As an aside, in most countries with “socialized medicine”, supplemental (private) insurance is still necessary, in order to get decent “healthcare”.
There are problems in the American health care system, BUT, comparisons to other countries is off-base. If you need a CT scan or other high-tech procedure here in the USA, you will get one, almost immediately.
In addition, ANYONE who shows up at a hospital emergency room WILL be treated without consideration of “who will pay the bill”. This is the case in ALL medical facilities that have emergency rooms and urgent care centers in the United States, and is mandated by law.
Our neighbor to the north, which has excellent medical staff, routinely rations CT scans and other high-tech procedures, as these machines and procedures are far less available due to cost considerations. You might have to wait 3 months for the same CT scan in Canada. A number of years ago, Canadian hospitals were caught providing CT scans for veterinarians’ animals, while humans were on waiting lists for use of the machines. You see, veterinarians paid cash “up front” for use of the machines.
A dirty little secret of Canadian health care, is that some patients are referred to American border-city hospitals for treatment if they squawk loud enough. In addition, Canadian politicians and movers and shakers routinely come to the United States for medical treatment.
Look at Great Britain’s National Health Service which routinely rations health care as well as exacting death sentences on humans because of cost. Recently, a British subject (baby) was refused potentially life-saving treatment not only in Great Britain, but also in the United States. The parents had the money to pay for the treatment here in the United States, but Britain’s National Health Service would not allow the baby to leave. A similar situation is unfolding, as the “National Health Service” refuses to allow the parents to take their child to Italy for treatment. What kind of health-care is that?
Socialized health care is fine for cuts, scrapes, and bruises, but when it comes to high-tech procedures, there are always cost considerations. Anyone can see that government-imposed solutions almost never work.
It is interesting to note, that in Canada, Great Britain, and other “socialized medicine” countries, private supplemental health insurance is necessary in order to receive decent medical treatment.
The problem is not health care, but health INSURANCE and HMOs – Health Maintenance Organizations, which artificially mask the true costs of health care. Health INSURANCE should be available for catastrophic situations, not routine medical care.
Going back to a “fee for services” like in the pre-HMO days of medicine would be an improvement as there would be competition for health care services.
Two good examples of successful “fee for services” medicine are plastic surgery and laser refractive surgery (eyes). Both plastic surgeons and ophthalmologists offer discounts for their procedures. In fact, prices for these procedures are constantly dropping.
A good distinction can be made between HMOs and automobile insurance.
Automobile insurance pays for accidents and damage to vehicles, nothing more. If automobile insurance were run like HMOs, they would pay for vehicle maintenance,oil-changes and the like.
Yes, the American health-care system needs improvement, but socialized medicine is not the right approach.
Agreed. Nice synopsis. I’d also like to stress another way of not getting involved in the healthcare menace is to stay in shape. Very basic stuff, but by working out, running, dieting, and not turning into a giant, sedentary blob, you will do wonders for starving the healthcare beast. I rarely get sick. I go to the doctor every 2 years or so for a basic checkup. I probably don’t even need to do that but I want my doctor to know who the hell I am should I ever really need him.
When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, all medicine was for-profit. The doctor came to our house versus now where waiting in a room for hours with dozens of coughing people is the norm. We were lower middle class, but my parents paid cash for hospitalizations, including the ~$80 when I was born in 1956 (Mom’s still got the receipt – I think she borrowed some of it from my grandparents). My brother and I both had our tonsils out at the same time circa 1960 and were in the hospital for about three days. Again, cash to get us out.
Now we’ve got the government “helping” us with mandatory “insurance” (what a joke), medicare, medicaid, yada, yada. And the majority of people think the fix is more government?
Meh – what a load of nonsense.
The US spends literally twice as much per capita as such notably poor nations as Luxembourg and Switzerland, and gets worse results.
The delta comes out to $1.5 trillion per year paid extra for health care.
This author is either really dumb or talking their book.