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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (4431)	2/12/2008 7:21:49 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

As a percentage of GDP, we are by no means the biggest R&D spenders in the world. I've been watching this discussion and wondering whether you are intentionally or unintentionally missing the point. The issue is not which country's pharmas spend the most on R&D. It's about where the profits that are spent on R&D by all pharmas are earned. If US patients (or their insurance companies) pay more for drugs than those from the rest of the world, which is apparently the case, then American patients are funding R&D disproportionately. If you are not just missing the point but rather questioning whether or not US patients really do pay more, why were we talking about reimporting drugs from Canada to save money?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (4431)	2/12/2008 3:19:22 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Thanks for the research. That is helpful. "As a percentage of GDP, we are by no means the biggest R&D spenders in the world..." What percentage of those foreign companies' profits on drug sales were derived from the socialized medical systems that democrats want us to emulate? You avoided addressing the point by answering a question that you chose rather than the one asked. "If the US is the most profitable market then essentially American consumers are funding the research for the whole world. Every consumer outside of the US that benefits from new drugs is essentially a free rider on American consumer purchases." The profits that fuel foreign research are mostly made in the US.