Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
Well that's what it is, wholesale change. I don't understand the resistance here. We are basically changing from a system where you pay insurance, and insurance pays your drugs, to where you pay taxes, and taxes pay for drugs. By doing this you have one system instead of thousands. You have one buyer.
Look, I could go on and on, but it is all there in the report. If you have a specific issue with what is being proposed, that's fine and worthy of discussion, but saying "it costs to much" or "it won't work in Canada" is ignoring facts and logic.
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The government could deal with pricing through legislation without the whole pharmacare program. So tying the savings of this program to the action of the government isn’t a fair comparison of the two programs.
Secondly the argument of 30 bureaucracies is less efficient than one bureaucracy doesn’t really hold true in practice. Competition drives efficiency which then drives out cost. It’s why in general the government delivery of service is less efficient than private delivery when the profit motive is aligned with the product.
You can make the argument that the profit motive of insurance companies leads to worse service of consumers but it certainly won’t be less efficient.
That said I am in favour in a government funded drug system as long as competition remains to drive efficiency and strict limits on what we cover and how new drugs are added to what is covered.
In following some of the links in this thread I read that in 1985 drug costs were 3 billion now their 33 billion so again growing in cost way faster than pop growth plus inflation. So regardless of who is paying for the drugs that is not a sustainable program. Individuals make choices when faced with price pressures governments borrow to avoid controversy. So by putting the decision of what drugs to cover in the hands of government will lead to more spending on drugs then if left to employers and individuals.
Finally the costs shifts from individuals and employers to the government so since corporate taxes likely won’t go up this will be born by individual tax increases. It’s also unlikely wages increase as a result of this change. Maybe some minor price reduction and increases in competitiveness. The bulk of this increase will be made in debt and personal taxes. So it’s a savings for businesses in the end and non-insured individuals