There is no freedom of choice under socialized medicine. The government decides what treatment you will get, how much of it and when you will get it. IF you will get it at all. That is why the people that can afford to, all come HERE to get treatment for diseases such as Cancer, AIDS, Kidney and Liver disease. OR, they buy private insurance in their country. The people that can't afford it, wait for the govt. determination. And they die while they wait.
I don't want that. I want control of my life.

I have a friend named Jacob who lives in Montreal. 2 years ago, he had a bad cold. He called the doctor and was given an appointment for 5 weeks later. By the time he finally got to see the doctor, he had developed a bad case of pneumonia and had to be hospitalized for 2 weeks. This is why I am against socialized medicine.

Regarding the drug companies, I agree that they are entitled to a profit and that research is expensive.

I work in a place that sometimes makes me privy to some of the inner workings of major drug companies.

I was shocked to see that at their sales meetings that they talk about how sales for one drug in the past year were 2.5 billion. That's right $2.5 billion! If they spent 250 million on research & 750 million on manufacturing, advertising & overhead, they would show a profit of 1.5 billion for 1 drug in 1 year. I think this is really excessive. Aren't there price gouging laws?

And Dennis do you really think this is right? I am for anybody making money if you earn it, but to me this is highway robbery. Do you really think they do as much research as they claim?I was told most of the money is spent on advertising and marketing.

Well, he's right, they are entitled to a profit, to pay for their time and research, but I don't think that they are entitled to bankrupt us when we need these meds to stay alive, in order to pay for their mass media advertising and marketing.

Which comes back to what I said earlier. Why do WE have to pay more for our meds than other countries?

Yeah and you would think shipping it to them would cost more than selling it at home. I guess maybe they don't buy as much, and maybe some kind of regulations require companies to sell outside the USA.

OR, maybe socialized medicine won't be held hostage, so we pick up the slack?
lol.......

Gee, maybe they got sumthin' there, lol

I believe a lot of countries have price caps on necessaties (sp) such as power, fuel, phones & medicines.

Here we have the good old democratic value of screw them until they bleed.

I really think medicine prices should be regulated by the FDA.

Back in the 70's when we had ran away inflation, Nixon's government put price caps on everything. It worked. Maybe there should be price caps today.

Sounds like a plan.

Our whole value system has changed and that has fueled these high prices. Do you think the prices would be that high if no one paid them? They are this high because Americans today will pay anything to get what they want. I realize some of these things are called "necessities". But with a little self-control, we, the consumer, would be in control. Imagine this, a young couple gets married. They have pretty good jobs, each of them. Let's say they make $100,000.00 between them a year. Right after they are married, they buy a $200,000 dollar house, and two $40,000 SUVs. That is a normal course of action today. Do you think any of our parents would have done that. My dad was a strict believer in, "if we don't have the cash, we don't need it" and we made do with what we had. When gas prices were so high last summer, if consumers would have boycotted, let's say, BP, they would have had to drop their price and everyone else would have had to follow suit. This won't work because there are too many people who don't care what anything costs. They pay and move along. As long as that keeps happening, you won't see high prices. But the way the American economy is structured, you'll never see Nationalized Medicine either. Too many companies with way too much money, know just who to pay in order to get what they want.

Frank, I agree.
Many families who complain that they can't "make ends meet" are like those that you describe. Do we really need a TV in every room? All the latest gadgets, etc?
Our parents used to bring lunch to work, use the same damn piece of "tin foil" for a week, bought only what was needed to be comfortable. In my neighborhood Italian immigrants used to come over, and buy houses within 10 years while the rest of us were still saving for one. And that's because they did not yet buy into our spending habits. They worked hard, and they saved their money.
I remember Andrea Peyser, a reporter for the NYpost I believe, wrote an article on the destabilization of rent control. She was outraged because HOW was a family making 100K a year going to make it?
One hundred grand a year and they couldn't live with out rent control?

Ohh...I am a miserable retch...I am so ashamed..I have never had an orignal thought or post in my lifetime..I wonder if that goes for the thousands of posts and ideas they welcomed when I was a memeber of that board.I don't know if I can go on....I hope I can get over this shame....boo hoo boo hoo...ok..I am over it..Now..down to business. !!

Ok, calm down....need a tissue?