Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
-Thomas Paine

You have no idea who my hero’s are.

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BTW, Herceptin does not block estrogen receptors. Tamoxifen does, but Herceptin does not. Herceptin works via a completely different pathway. I sure am glad Rand is not my doctor.

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Just me and the doc.

More focus on wellness care, natural “medicine” that actually cures and does not give you another illness, for which you will need another drug, etc. We already support the drug cartel with an elite lifestyle, and they just want more. They have worked their way into buying off politicians and running our government. I say, starve ‘em! When they want more, they give us drugs that keep the ball rolling in their court, or should I say dollars into their bank accounts. Gotta stop it through our choices.

The medical industry needs to bring down their prices for health care services, drugs and fees so they are affordable, just like any other business. Simple. Uncomplicated.

If the government is involved or an insurance company, we have to pay for the services + salaries to process claims and they want to choose who gets what. NO! They are not doctors. They are money and power hungry number crunchers, without morals. If the government gets involved, government will expand by 31 more agencies! That’s a lot of federal government, a lot of paychecks, more taxes. Will not lower costs. Will increase them and lower coverage as time goes. Just me and the doc, just the fees for the services and drugs. The more people you add to a system, the more waste, fraud and chance of a big complicated mess that you cannot undo once it is done.

People think too much. KISS…keep it simple stupid.

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Chaos is growing, and I’m not getting any satisfaction.
Your heros have created this chaos, and promising more.

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Something called NICE wouldn’t have ‘rules’.
They like the word ‘guidance’.

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Do people here feel than Medicare is bad? Do people here feel that it is better for insurance companies to have control of HC and medicine? Why is it better for insurance companies to have this control, but not the government?

“I welcome your research to show that Rand’s soundbites were just that, soundbites.”

They were lies. “Weapons of mass destruction in Iraq” was a lie, not a soundbite.

“They didn’t have the full story and neither does half of what anyone is saying.”

Rand Paul is an opthamologist. If he doesn’t have the full story about the material he is injecting into people’s eyes, then that is another problem. Rand knew what he was going to say about Herceptin before the interview. These interviews are scripted. When a politician says something on CNN, he should know the full story. In reality, he did know the full story about Herceptin, which is why I say he lied.

“In the treatment you brought up, it shows more of a failing on the governement’s side than on the pharm company. Companies are in the business to make money, they created the drug, went through 13 years to test it and bring it to the market. If they wanted to stop production of it, regardless of how good it is, they should have that right.”

I don’t know what this means. Genentech did not stop production of anything. Both Avastin and Lucentis are still on the market.

“What Rand and you really highlighted, at least to me, is that the FDA doesn’t have an avenue for allowing doctors to submit data to apply for an application of a drug for a new use when the pharm company doesn’t want to fund it. That to me is a failure on the government agency, and surely is part of the corruption you mentioned. More government won’t fix that!”

First of all, Rand did not highlight anything. He said that in the UK you had to be blind in one eye before thay will give you Avastin. That is what Rand highlighted. What Rand said, however, makes no sense, and he knows it. The UK cannot and never has given anyone Avastin for macular degeneration, because they cannot prescribe off-label. For that reason, the UK has to use a drug that is 40 times more expensive. Rand did not highlight that. He also did not highlight the fact that the situation where Lucentis (NOT Avastin) could only be used in the second eye was because
Lucentis costs a thousand dollars a shot, not $50 per injection like Avastin. That is a big thing not to highlight. Also, Rand did not highlight the fact that the UK now, and for the past 2 years, does prescribe the $1,000 a shot drug. The government could correct this situation if it wanted to. They could fund an Avastin study themselves. Yes, they are corrupt by not doing so.

“More government won’t fix that!”

Yes it would. More government would mean a government that makes its corporations do the moral thing, instead of the thing that makes more money.

“If drugs cost $20k but cost the patient nothing, why not go for the $20k drug instead of the cheaper alternative? If you have a sprain, but I (as a doctor) could get more money by adding or refusing you some care based on government rules, why wouldn’t I do it?”

The doctor does not make any money from prescribing a $20k drug. Pharma companies do. I am not sure what you are getting at here. A treatment has to be logical for the ailment being treated. Doctors in the UK have no more or less freedom in treatment options than in the US. The NHS regulates treatment in the UK. Insurance companies regulate treatment in the US. An insurance company in the US is not going to let a doctor prescribe Herceptin for a sprained ankle and more than the NHS is. You’ll have to explain this better if I am not responding to what you are getting at.

“The simple fact is the more government steps in, the more they muck up the situation between the doctor and the patient.”

This is not a simple fact. This is an opinion you have which is based on pharma company and insurance company propaganda. The government “steps in” in other countries more than in the US in every first world country on earth, and every other first world country has better health care (according to every comparative study I have ever seen in my life).

“Does the government have the ability to make complicated, individualized rules that fit to every possible situation and patient out there?”

The rules are not complicated or individualized. Here are the rules for Herceptin:

http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/TA107QuickRefGuide.pdf

Doesn’t look so hard to me.

You are right, however, that our government does not presently have the right to make guidelines for treatments. That’s because we don’t have single payer healthcare.

“No, and that’s why they shouldn’t be involved.”

This is crazy logic. You are saying that because we don’t have single payer health care, that is why we shouldn’t have single payer health care. That is illogical.

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