US breast cancer drug decision 'marks start of death panels'

[strollingbones]

why are drugs prices so expensive here...yet much much lower in canada?

hint: government bargainging....

drugs are very profitable...look at pain clinics in florida...the white coats have the best drugs and know it...if you are willing to pay...you can obtain about any drug you WANT...but others will not be able to obtain drugs that they NEED...

the answer to all questions: money

 

[Truthmatters]

Are Cancer Drugs Worth The Money? - Forbes.com

 

[xotoxi]

Of course. And if xotoxi is right that the drug does not work, then that's important. But the cost should not be a factor. Eventually prices come down once the R &D costs are covered. Slippery slope. Truthmatters and greenbeard believe in Pez treatment. That would explain a lot.

I disagree.

If they found that aspirin was as effective as Avastin in treating breast cancer, then it would be worth every penny.

If Avastin allowed patient's to live disease free for 5 years or more, then it would be worth every penny.

But $8,000 per month with NO increased survival...cost MUST be considered.

 

[xotoxi]

Why is it the country's "best selling cancer drug" if it doesn't work? Will it still be approved for colon cancer?

I think it is quite effective for lung cancer.

It just doesn't work that well on the tit.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The pills are expensive because it takes years of testing and millions of dollars and most of the drugs never get FDA approval

 

[rikules]

To review, Palin's "death panel" bullshit was:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care.

That has nothing to do with deciding whether a treatment is effective, it's a decision about whether an individual person is worth treating. That, of course, will never happen. And that isn't even close to what you're talking about here.

The fact that people demonize things like paying for value is exactly why we have such an outrageously expensive system without appreciably better health outcomes than other developed nations. I would think this is obvious but apparently it needs to be pointed out: sentiments like "I want lower premiums!" and "insurance companies should cover every drug that does absolutely nothing!" ("two new studies have shown that the drug may not even extend life by an extra month") are incompatible.

There is no "death panel" that's going to say to someone "we're no longer going to pay for any care for you." However, I would hope we start spending communal money (i.e. payouts from insurance pools) on effective treatments, yielding 1) better health outcomes and 2) cost savings.

You can still buy useless drugs with your own money, no one will stop you.

it's awfully unfair to accuse obama and his health care plan (which, I must say, I OPPOSE!) of "death panels"


especially when we look at the OLD way (the conservative way? the republican way?)



homeless people get NO coverage....

they just die

(no death panel required)

low income people get little to no coverage...

they just die....

(no death panel required)

insurance companies have the right to NOT pay for your coverage if they so desire..
(which they generally do) by using the fine print or inventing "exceptions" or establishing limitations on treatment

so you die

(no death panel required)

again...I am stongly opposed to national health care/mandatory insurance...

but the CONSERVATIVE/REPUBLICAN method is just as bad...or worse...

 

[Greenbeard]

Truthmatters and greenbeard believe in Pez treatment.

Do you seriously need a clarification of what I was saying?

Placebo (Pez) vs a treatment that doesn't work: the only difference between the two is a few thousand dollars. My point wasn't that Pez is some kind of treatment, it's that neither, apparently, is this drug. As long as we continue paying for useless care, health care costs will continue to skyrocket.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Truthmatters and greenbeard believe in Pez treatment.

Do you seriously need a clarification of what I was saying?

Placebo (Pez) vs a treatment that doesn't work: the only difference between the two is a few thousand dollars. My point wasn't that Pez is some kind of treatment, it's that neither, apparently, is this drug. As long as we continue paying for useless care, health care costs will continue to skyrocket.

Didn't Obama suggest that people take aspirin instead of going for treatment?

 

[Greenbeard]

Source?