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Comment by cat_plus_plus | Hacker News Reader

Because we are paying for the rest of the world. Allow prescription drug imports from abroad. Pharma companies will be forced to charge more in the rest of the world and less in US. Allow insurance plans based on medical tourism for expensive procedures. Some countries will say no, but a lot of countries will say yes for profit. Once you have a choice of a hip replacement in Mexico or India, hospitals in these countries will compete for safety, cost, pleasant aftercare. Let's stop being the suckers.

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A huge portion of our healthcare goes to paying health insurance providers, high rates for pharmaceuticals, and hospitals.

There's a reason these industries in the US are some of the most profitable. They act as middle men and make massive profits.

Because everything else is communism according to many US citizens.

>Because we are paying for the rest of the world

Don't blame a domestic problem on the rest of the world

> Because we are paying for the rest of the world.

While I don't know if that covers all the expenses, I don't think people appreciate how much funding the US system is contributing to new med-tech development.

A previous client created some analytics software, they have EU regulatory approvals, but those are almost secondary, without FDA approval they would shutdown. All of their client, except for a few UK customer (who just bundle and resell in the US) all of their clients are in the US. For a lot of smaller medical companies, even in the EU, the US market is their number one source of revenue.

I might be wrong, but it's also my impression that if you do have the money, you'll get much more in-depth care and treatment in the US. And it's from this segment many companies find the funding to develop new technology that will only much much later trickle down to public healthcare systems else where in the world.

There is certainly an argument to be made that the US pays the R&D costs for the rest of the world. Most new drugs end up in public healthcare systems as if the pharmaceutical company is throwing an old product into the discount bin.

However some of these new drugs are so expensive that some countries are now refusing to allow certain new cancer drugs on the market. Simply because the exorbitant price compared to the questionable gains in quality of life doesn't make sense anymore.

>Once you have a choice of a hip replacement in Mexico or India

This is already being done actually.

> Because we are paying for the rest of the world. Allow prescription drug imports from abroad. Pharma companies will be forced to charge more in the rest of the world and less in US.

Oh, look, a new cartel that will take 6 months to set up and decades to investigate.

So is the EU. Most of it goes to stockholders.

The US is a completely different level.

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