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Comment by singingfish | Hacker News Reader

Here in Australia the state funds most medical care. In this case the blackmail vector, if we use that interpretation is the taxation system.

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And we (Australia) blackmail drug makers: sell your drugs to us at a certain price and the Government will heavily subside it and you’ll get big sales. Refuse and it will get zero subsidy and nobody will buy it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_Benefits_Sche...

> And we (Australia) blackmail drug makers: sell your drugs to us at a certain price and the Government will heavily subside it and you’ll get big sales. Refuse and it will get zero subsidy and nobody will buy it.

The blackmail version is actually "Refuse, and we'll produce a generic version locally and perhaps even export it to any country that wants it."

https://www.wired.com/2006/12/indiadrug/

Blackmail with a bit of overhead tossed in then. At least most hackers keep the costs down and pass the savings on to you!

I don't think state funded healthcare works the way you think it does. The american system is the most economically inefficient system out there, to the extent that people without experience of other systems likely end up with highly distorted perception.

Note that a mixed economy (combined public/private funding, like the french and australian systems) are probably for the most part the most economically efficient. A big problem in australia is over-provision of services, especially ending up getting more pathology tests than strictly necessary.

Just a joke!

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