Drug And Hospital Cost example essay topic

In the United States today there is an epidemic in heath care costs and medical benefit coverage not covering all a patients need; leaving victims with large medical expenses. Today raising cost of heath care has effected the lower middle class tens of thousands in debt that lead them to bankruptcy; but resent laws passed by the Bush administration (undoubtedly lobbied by hospitals boards) making it nearly impossible for people in the middle class to file chapter 7 bankrupsy that starts them off with a clean start. Instead forcing them to file for chapter 13 that involves large sum of money be produced in 5 yrs with penalties ranging to imprisonment if the debtors defaults on payment. President Bush in a speech on the topic said people have to take responsibility and pay there debt. In this move he completely ignores the rapidly growing problem with the heath care system and appeases the insurance companies and the hospitals by forcing patients to extraordinarily high cost for procedures and my belief that they have patients go through unnecessary treatments to help hospitals combat their raising costs of insurance (only back my personal experience). It is a system of capitalistic heath care and the patients are the one's losing their money to make the rich richer at the expense of quality (or at least effective) heath care to the masses.

Furthering the problem all drugs in the United States must be backed by the food and drug administration and no free market capitalism is allowed; enabling drug companies to patent there drugs and control the market price. Some how They are above copy write and patent law; that states that an individual / company can hold exclusive rights for only three years to regain research and development costs and make some profit. This was established so companies / individuals could not establish a monopoly on a product / service letting them completely control the market price. This is some thing that in the rest of the civilized democratic countries is not allowed and drug are part of the free market system.

An example of this would be in Canada the same U.S. Company sells its drugs cheaper to compete with prices in the open market and in the U.S. they charge more money because of their monopoly on the drug. This demonstrates why free market systems are more beneficial to the consumer. Many U.S. citizens have traveled to Canada get their drugs because of cheaper rates due to the free market. I also believe the U.S. is braking it's treaty made by Canada and the United States to establish free trade N.A.F.T.A. (the north American free trade agreement), but I guess Canada is not going to invade us over it anyway. The company benefiting the most from this is Pfizer the leading U.S. drug manufacturer also company with immense political power. with its many subordinate companies all allow to contribute ten thousand dollars each Pfizer can give quit a hefty sum to any political campaign. One solution to the problems of the U.S. heath care problem could be to have a national heath care system like Canada and Western Europe; with open markets for drugs to keep competition running the market price not individual companies.

This would eliminate inflated drug and hospital cost but in hind site you are put on lists of priority for surgeries and treatments when illnesses are not immediately necessary. The growing number of Americans that are getting put into financial turmoil because of heath care bills is alarming and must be addressed. Though it's a system the government probably will not change due to the publics lack of knowledge on the subject matter and the large corporations trying to keep thing they way they make the most money..