Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
The NHS is likely to take centre stage in next month’s election. Debate to date has focused on what the health service might look like in a post-Brexit world if America’s for-profit buccaneer “big pharma” gain a significant foothold following a US-UK trade deal. Jeremy Corbyn was spot on when he launched a salvo during PMQs charging that the NHS was in “greater danger” than at any time since its inception, whatever mealy-mouthed pledges Boris Johnson makes. The financial vultures have been circling for some time. And, as Channel 4’s Dispatches programme revealed, secret trade discussions have been under way with a view to ramping up the cost of drugs sold by US corporations to the NHS, which could cost the health service a whopping £27bn.
If you are in the UK and not deeply concerned about the prospect of the NHS coming to mirror the US healthcare system after Brexit, think again. Take it from someone who has what would be regarded as “good” health insurance cover by US standards: don’t go there. Studies have shown that US healthcare costs have been spiralling for years and that as a percentage of GDP, are as much as double those of other wealthy nations. Yet, on a number of crucial health outcome measures, including maternal and infant mortality, the country performs much worse than other rich countries. In the US, millions of people have gone bankrupt because they can’t afford to pay medical bills, while the price of drugs, such as insulin, have gone through the roof. Many people ration medicines, or have to choose between paying for them or the rent.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2019/nov/05/nhs-precious-ill-us-big-pharma-costs-healthcare
If you are in the UK and not deeply concerned about the prospect of the NHS coming to mirror the US healthcare system after Brexit, think again. Take it from someone who has what would be regarded as “good” health insurance cover by US standards: don’t go there. Studies have shown that US healthcare costs have been spiralling for years and that as a percentage of GDP, are as much as double those of other wealthy nations. Yet, on a number of crucial health outcome measures, including maternal and infant mortality, the country performs much worse than other rich countries. In the US, millions of people have gone bankrupt because they can’t afford to pay medical bills, while the price of drugs, such as insulin, have gone through the roof. Many people ration medicines, or have to choose between paying for them or the rent.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2019/nov/05/nhs-precious-ill-us-big-pharma-costs-healthcare