Health Reform - 8 Simple Ways to Reform Your Health
Whilst the health agenda in the USA has captured most of the headlines, the same issues are confronting other countries too. The central issue remains how to pay for the services, which are expected to be needed, by an aging population with a shrinking taxpayer base. In Australia a tax review has just been completed and the third inter generational report is about to be handed down. This looks at projections for the next generation. One of the snippets from the tax review caught my eye. It claimed that the cost per head of pharmaceuticals in Australia had trebled in twenty years from around $200 per head to over $600 whilst in the preceding twenty years it had remained stable. This was put down to the development of "blockbuster" drugs. The cost of drugs in Australia is much less than in the USA due to a system called the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which in simplest terms makes the government the "sole" buyer of drugs that are listed on the scheme. So where is...