<story><title>Arthritis drug that cost $198 in 2008 is now more than $10k</title><url>https://www.axios.com/indocin-suppository-drug-prices-assertio-zyla-egalet-3278e307-d900-475c-92c9-8e5ff828a7da.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>brianwawok</author><text>Right, this is the point that is missed in every hacker news &amp;#x2F; reddit post that spends hours making fun of how bad the US is and how some people get stuck with $50,000 hospital bills.&lt;p&gt;If you have good work based coverage, our care is excellent. Fast access, and low out of pocket costs.&lt;p&gt;I do want to improve it for everyone, but I have 0 complaints about my personal access to health care. I cannot imagine living in Canada and being put on a 8 month wait for something important but not urgent...</text></item><item><author>rafale</author><text>&amp;gt; Many Americans have decent coverage from their employer. For them, it’s not worth upending the system for what might be moderate gains.&lt;p&gt;Negative gains I may say. In my experience of the Canadian healthcare and US healthcare systems, the latter, &lt;i&gt;IF&lt;/i&gt; you are well insured, feels like a Rolls-Royce whIle the former is like driving a Lada in Pothole City.&lt;p&gt;I remember the first time I called my provider in the US to book an appointment with a dermatologist. She said &amp;quot;Wednesday&amp;quot;, I said &amp;quot;What month?&amp;quot; I couldn&amp;#x27;t believe it was that same week. I used to wait 2-3 months in Canada. And I had to first get a reference from a ER&amp;#x2F;generalist doctor.&lt;p&gt;Also don&amp;#x27;t forget the US spends on medicare&amp;#x2F;medicaid&amp;#x2F;VA about the same % Canada spends on healthcare.</text></item><item><author>MichaelApproved</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;I wonder how Americans can tolerate this situation.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Several reasons this terrible system continues to exist but it essentially boils down to entrenchment.&lt;p&gt;- The private healthcare industry pays politicians to maintain the status quo. The alternative government run solution does not.&lt;p&gt;- The private healthcare industry creates propaganda and pays the media to spread it. An improved government run solution does not.&lt;p&gt;- Many Americans have &lt;i&gt;decent&lt;/i&gt; coverage from their employer. For them, it’s not worth upending the system for what &lt;i&gt;might&lt;/i&gt; be moderate gains. More over, propaganda has made them expect worse coverage from any alternatives.&lt;p&gt;- ACA gave many without employer coverage a good enough solution. It’s still expensive as fuck but it subdued enough voters.&lt;p&gt;So, after considering voters who are happy &lt;i&gt;enough&lt;/i&gt; with the devil they know, you don’t have enough votes left to overturn the system.</text></item><item><author>otagekki</author><text>... And in the meantime, the same medicine (commercialised there as Indocid) costs €3.78 in France (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vidal.fr&amp;#x2F;medicaments&amp;#x2F;gammes&amp;#x2F;indocid-4902.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vidal.fr&amp;#x2F;medicaments&amp;#x2F;gammes&amp;#x2F;indocid-4902.html&lt;/a&gt;) provided you pay the full price.&lt;p&gt;That essentially means it&amp;#x27;s literally 10x cheaper to take a two-way ticket to France, have a doctor prescribe it there, buy 3 months worth of treatment and come back to the US.&lt;p&gt;I wonder how Americans can tolerate this situation.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>helsinkiandrew</author><text>&amp;gt; This is the point that is missed in every hacker news &amp;#x2F; reddit post that spends hours making fun of how bad the US is.&lt;p&gt;Mostly of the &amp;#x27;making fun&amp;#x27; is due to the fact that millions of US citizens have no or little health care and choose not to have treatment because they can&amp;#x27;t afford it, are limited about what treatments they can have, or have it and are made homeless or live under huge debts.&lt;p&gt;Just about every country which has some kind of health care system also has private health care&amp;#x2F;insurance that means you don&amp;#x27;t have to wait for treatment or have more choice about what, when and where things happen.  Because of the competition of the &amp;#x27;free&amp;#x27; healthcare systems these policies are usually much, much cheaper that the US.&lt;p&gt;I work in a company that gives me private medical insurance (which means I might get treated a little early for a non urgent condition, perhaps in a swanky private hospital) but feel good that people that can&amp;#x27;t afford it won&amp;#x27;t die, and that I can quit my job and not worry about getting ill.</text></comment>
<story><title>Arthritis drug that cost $198 in 2008 is now more than $10k</title><url>https://www.axios.com/indocin-suppository-drug-prices-assertio-zyla-egalet-3278e307-d900-475c-92c9-8e5ff828a7da.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>brianwawok</author><text>Right, this is the point that is missed in every hacker news &amp;#x2F; reddit post that spends hours making fun of how bad the US is and how some people get stuck with $50,000 hospital bills.&lt;p&gt;If you have good work based coverage, our care is excellent. Fast access, and low out of pocket costs.&lt;p&gt;I do want to improve it for everyone, but I have 0 complaints about my personal access to health care. I cannot imagine living in Canada and being put on a 8 month wait for something important but not urgent...</text></item><item><author>rafale</author><text>&amp;gt; Many Americans have decent coverage from their employer. For them, it’s not worth upending the system for what might be moderate gains.&lt;p&gt;Negative gains I may say. In my experience of the Canadian healthcare and US healthcare systems, the latter, &lt;i&gt;IF&lt;/i&gt; you are well insured, feels like a Rolls-Royce whIle the former is like driving a Lada in Pothole City.&lt;p&gt;I remember the first time I called my provider in the US to book an appointment with a dermatologist. She said &amp;quot;Wednesday&amp;quot;, I said &amp;quot;What month?&amp;quot; I couldn&amp;#x27;t believe it was that same week. I used to wait 2-3 months in Canada. And I had to first get a reference from a ER&amp;#x2F;generalist doctor.&lt;p&gt;Also don&amp;#x27;t forget the US spends on medicare&amp;#x2F;medicaid&amp;#x2F;VA about the same % Canada spends on healthcare.</text></item><item><author>MichaelApproved</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;I wonder how Americans can tolerate this situation.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Several reasons this terrible system continues to exist but it essentially boils down to entrenchment.&lt;p&gt;- The private healthcare industry pays politicians to maintain the status quo. The alternative government run solution does not.&lt;p&gt;- The private healthcare industry creates propaganda and pays the media to spread it. An improved government run solution does not.&lt;p&gt;- Many Americans have &lt;i&gt;decent&lt;/i&gt; coverage from their employer. For them, it’s not worth upending the system for what &lt;i&gt;might&lt;/i&gt; be moderate gains. More over, propaganda has made them expect worse coverage from any alternatives.&lt;p&gt;- ACA gave many without employer coverage a good enough solution. It’s still expensive as fuck but it subdued enough voters.&lt;p&gt;So, after considering voters who are happy &lt;i&gt;enough&lt;/i&gt; with the devil they know, you don’t have enough votes left to overturn the system.</text></item><item><author>otagekki</author><text>... And in the meantime, the same medicine (commercialised there as Indocid) costs €3.78 in France (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vidal.fr&amp;#x2F;medicaments&amp;#x2F;gammes&amp;#x2F;indocid-4902.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.vidal.fr&amp;#x2F;medicaments&amp;#x2F;gammes&amp;#x2F;indocid-4902.html&lt;/a&gt;) provided you pay the full price.&lt;p&gt;That essentially means it&amp;#x27;s literally 10x cheaper to take a two-way ticket to France, have a doctor prescribe it there, buy 3 months worth of treatment and come back to the US.&lt;p&gt;I wonder how Americans can tolerate this situation.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wing-_-nuts</author><text>&amp;gt;I cannot imagine living in Canada and being put on a 8 month wait for something important but not urgent...&lt;p&gt;We have pretty long wait times in the US for elective surgeries as well.  Not as bad as canada, but it can take a bit to get you scheduled for a hip or knee replacement.</text></comment>