Adak, you said:
Quote:
|
Then I heard about these commissions in Great Britain. They decide what treatments (if they're expensive), will be used, for what type of patients. The older you get, the fewer expensive treatments you qualify for, or the longer you have to wait.
|
That's really doesn't sound like anything I've read about health commissions.
Don't get me wrong, the system, as i already said isn't perfect. Sometimes it takes a little while for new stuff to be approved - though often it ends up approved because the drug companies have realised that the NHS will not purchase over-priced drugs and have dropped their wholesale price.
The NICE guidelines that NHS treatments are based on, are constantly updated. They make an assessment as to whether a drug is both effective and cost effective. It is not sensible to spend £50k on treatments that offer a small chance of extending someone's life for 8 months. It is sensible to spend that on a 50/50 shot at an extra ten years.
I pulled those figures more or less out of my arse :p
Also worth remembering that drugs and procedures and devices are much, much cheaper here. The NHS has a lot of leverage on price in the drugs industry (as well as producing or inspiring a high proportion of new drug and medical technology research). And, whilst the scene is changing on this, much less of the money is swept up by a middle tier of shareholder profits.