<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Dylan wrote:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">I do think the current US system is broken though (for many reasons); it doesn't allow markets to effectively price.</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">---------------------</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">Why doesn't Congress allow our health agencies to bargain with drug companies over prices?</span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:12.8px">bill w</span></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 7:54 AM, Dylan Distasio <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:interzone@gmail.com" target="_blank">interzone@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>John-</div><div><br></div><div>As I'm sure you're aware, correlation does not imply causation. This issue is extremely complex and difficult to wade through, and your implication that we should be on a single payer system (I'm not sure what I think on that, but my political leaning immediately recoils at the thought) is not very libertarian.</div><div><br></div><div>For one thing, the US subsidizes the rest of the world in terms of drug prices:</div><div><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-drug-prices/" target="_blank">https://www.bloomberg.com/<wbr>graphics/2015-drug-prices/</a></div><div><br></div><div>For another, these single payer systems are also going broke, and you inevitably get rationing (which is fine until you're one the short end of that stick).</div><div><br></div><div>You also effectively get a government centralized entity deciding how to allocate overall healthcare funds to various conditions. I have seen few problems that get better with a centralized bureaucratic entity making the call.</div><div><br></div><div>You're also discounting genetics, homogenous populations, and other socioeconomic factors including diet that may be influencing longevity numbers.</div><div><br></div><div>I think it is a good idea to look at what these countries can teach us, and I come away thinking single payer is not a good idea.</div><div><br></div><div>I do think the current US system is broken though (for many reasons); it doesn't allow markets to effectively price. I find an analogy in the US experiments with deregulating energy prices at the wholesale level but not allowing price to pass through to retail. I don't know if that is a good idea, but you can't have an effective market when one portion of it is allowed to price and the other side is not. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 10:06 PM, John Clark <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><font size="4">The USA spends FAR more on healthcare than any other country on the planet and has done so for many decades, yet it doesn't seem to be getting much bang for the buck. In 2016 the USA spends $9451 per-person per-year on healthcare but is only #31 on the list of countries with the longest lived citizens; Japan is #1 on the longevity list and spend only $4150 per person per year, Australia is # 4 and spends $4420, and at #31 is the USA which spends $9451. Every one of the top 30 longevity countries have 2 things in common:</font><div><br><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">1) They all spend far less on healthcare than the USA does.</font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">2) Unlike the USA they all have Single Payer Healthcare.</font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br></div><font size="4">We are extropians and thus are believers in the scientific method, that means if a theory doesn't fit the facts it must be abandoned no matter how beloved it may be, and that includes political theories. So as a extropian do you think maybe those top 30 longevity countries can teach us something? </font><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font size="4">John K Clark</font></div></div></div>
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