Yes as I pointed out some of them were just industry reports.  Rather than just shrugging off these sources that support the worlds argument that the US doesnt do Healthcare correctly.  Provide some sources of your own that shows how wonderful our healthcare system is.

You are asking for data that is inherently not possible... it's actually near impossible to judge healthcare treatment across society due to the fact that things like surivial rates are effected by far far more then just equality of care.

Example.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/outliers.htm

You may as well try and figure out which twig in a tornado was moved more by blowing into it.  Anyone who actually tells you they can judge healthcare systems across countries (or in a lot of cases, even towns) is blowing smoke up your ass to serve a politcal point.

There are plenty of studies that show "America has the best healthcare system in the world" too... but they're pretty much the same.

You'll never find a good comparison by using meta data.

It's one of the main reasons the WHO stopped comparing healthcare.  (Well that and their methods involved zero actual real healthcare numbers, the closest being life expectancy... which isn't right for a number of reasons.)

Etanercept.  The drug you are referring to.  It's locked up to on manufacturer because they pantented the protein they symthesized to make it.  Your problem isn't with the medical indsutry, it's with the patent office.  Get your anger properly pointed.

Actually, they can relase similar drugs.  They are called generics.  And they are usually much less expensive than the original product.   The only reason a generic for Etanercept isn't avaiable in the US is because of the patent on the protein.  Europe doesn't hold the patent to the same strict hold and generics are already in development there.

There is also 5 other drugs ont he amrket that do the same thing that Etanercept does.   Pegsunercept, Infliximab, Adalimumab, Certolizumab Pegol and Golimumab.

The drug costs less in France because as I noted above, they have generics for it there.

I addressesd the anecdote thing already.  Why bring it back up?   As for links to studies, no thank you.  Every study can be funded by a source that wants a desired outcome making them nothing more than talking points for the financier.  Besides, I prefer to use the less corruptable faculties like logic and reason.  If you let your mind be made up by some paid for study versus your own capacity for reason, then you are willingly being lead just like the study commissioner hoped you would.  You become their unpaid spokesperson.

And does not the majority of the healthcare industry now revolve around high end computers and technology?   Surgery times and recovery are reduced greatly thanks to technological innovations.  This increases patient volume, reduces hospital supply use per patatient, and so and so on yet the fees applied are still insane.

Tell me again why an 11 cent Tylenol is charged $5 on your hospital bill?   I do wish to hear your reasoning.

the price i quoted you in France was for the original protein not a generic.

Prices of most prescription medicines are cheaper in france not only because of generics. They are cheaper because most european government have been forcing manufacturers to lower their prices in their countries ( you can research it, the manufacturers keep bitching to no end about it, but for some weird reason they still keep selling those drugs in those countries.)

Even having a generic on the market will force a manufacturer to lower their price.

But the reason those manufactures stay in Europe is because if they don't, someone else will step in and sell their generic instead.

If it costs $100 but you sell it for $500 in the US but are forced to sell it for $250 in France, why in the world would you even consider not selling it in France?  Arbitrary figures are for example use only.

Why? Because of a couple of things.  You are not paying for just the aspirin, you are paying for the Dr. who prescribed it, the phamacy tech who filled it, the nurse who delivered it, etc. etc. You are paying for the ER and other patients who wont end up paying their bills because they cant afford it and dont have insurance. We are not going to be a country that throws people out of hospitals because they couldnt prove they could pay for the service before they get started.

As for studies. So we are just supposed to take your word for it. For one I dont even know how much Lasik has reduced in price. The 1st time I checked 4 years ago it would have cost me around $2000 and when I did it 2 years ago it cost me $2000.  Maybe since then it really has dropped. A difference between Lasik, Plastic surgery and a broken leg, and appendectomy, and MRI after a fall, etc. Is that Lasik and Plastic surgery are elective surgeries that in most cases have no need to be done with expedience.  I took a few years before I decide to do Lasik.  I was able to take my time shop around and then have the procedure done.  When my son had an emergency appendectomy, can you imagine the look my wife would have given me if I said honey we should shop around.  When my son fell skate boarding and blacked out and the Dr. said we should do an MRI just in case I didnt say thank Doc I will take it into advisement and shop around for a few days.  If my car gets into an accident I will shop around to see who does the best job for the best price. If myself or a loved one is injured in the accident I dont shop around with their lives possibly at stake.

I am going to end my participation in this thread. The last thing I will say is that as a country the United States is doomed to fail if we as citizens believe that well we are doing X this way so therefore everyone else in the world must be wrong if they do it Y way. Were are the United States of America and of course because of that we do everything right and everyone else does everything wrong.

American Exceptionalism because of what we do. We cant live on our past exceptional achievements to be exceptional we have to continue to do exceptional things.

How can they? Pretty sure international trade laws on Intellectual Property protect drugs, such that the screwey "one chemical compound, one company's possession," setup works worldwide, unless they're being reproduced illegally

Yeah, ironically, everyone is missing the very obvious point of... all it takes is there being one place where you can sell medicine, or machines or whatever at a better price.

The reason why such comparisons are worthless is EXACTLY because it's an international market.

Drug companies can sell a product in the US from 500, and the same one in europe for 250, and the same one in africa for like.... 5 bucks... because the actual cost of production is low.  So profits are still made in Europe and in Africa.

While america shoulders the brunt of the costs to cover R&D.

Ironically both more and less regulation i bet would lower drug prices.  The issue though is, will more regulation lead the US to have medical research funding analgous to Europe.

If so... the whole world's healthcare will drop.  (Or rather increase more slowly.)

In a country like England there is little incentive to upgrade technologies that work "Well enough."    The government isn't going to buy a bunch of new expensive MRI technology just because it detects something .4% better then the previous MRI machines.

In a country like the US, high end hosptials will, and so will other hospitals as the prices get cheaper and they rush to compete vs each other.

After the prices get low enough, then countries like England will buy in.  They may even get rates lowered ahead of time, if the company is confident the US will meet their R&D goals.

Without the US, who is going to take a big risk to imrpove technology that works ok?  There is a reason why the US accounts for over 80% of the world's medical research.  Think how much better EVERYONE'S healthcare would be, if Europe spent an even amount of money on biotechnology research. (The EU being about the same size.)

The advantages of the US healthcare system are hard to see, because they apply to the world as a whole.

So, in short, America is supposed to have a system that increasingly prices more people out of its services, which causes life expectancy to decline for the lack of preventive care, so that somehow the rest of the world gets better medication?  And then, the response to "something must be done" is "but you have emergency rooms!" as if some state law mandating a business can't turn anyone way makes up for a lack of preventive care.