Passage from the 2006 law the very first time gave most seniors prescription medication coverage. However it did not get rid of the problem to be not able to pay for medication, states Gabriel Levitt from the online pharmacy finder Pharmacychecker.com.
"Research in the Commonwealth Fund has proven that fifty million Americans aren’t getting needed medication because of the high cost of medicines at U.S. pharmacies," Levitt states. "The Condition of Maine has resoundingly asserted that this condition of matters is unacceptable."
These drug-import programs possess a lengthy good reputation for debate. The Fda (under Democratic and Republican presidents alike) have cautioned that opening the nation’s drug distribution system could expose customers to counterfeit or adulterated products.
"Medicine purchased from foreign sources, for example from online sellers, from companies that provide to purchase foreign medicine for you personally, or during journeys outdoors the U . s . States, might not be safe or effective," an Food and drug administration spokesman told Shots via email. "These medicines are illegal and could present health problems, and Food and drug administration cannot make sure the safety, effectiveness and excellence of medicine from all of these sources. Food and drug administration cannot help consumers who experience medicine acquired from outdoors U.S. regulation and oversight."
The pharmaceutical industry also is not interested in consumers importing drugs.
"Opening our borders to unapproved imported drugs could boost the flow of counterfeit drugs in to the U.S.," states Matt Bennett, senior v . p . of communications for PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying arm, "putting patients at senseless risk with little option against their injuries."
But Health insurance and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius might have a conflict about this issue. In 2004, as governor of Kansas, she participated within the efforts to permit residents of her condition purchase drugs from Canada and Europe.
Resourse: http://npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/27/196325173/
Sick Around America
Video COMMENTS:
12from121: I am so grateful I am not American. Backwards, 3rd world country.
aicram62: Free to die
Chris Dansey: Free to die because you can't pay your medical bills
Lewis Bonnell: I am so glad I am a Canadian with access to healthcare. It's terrible for Americans whose country spends billions on military and wars but won't invest in affordable healthcare for all its citizens.
Rob Lloyd: How can it be right that a premature baby born into s family with good health care survives but a baby born in the streets does not. Are not all babies equal. And thus is a country that is polarised with abortion. A Republicans view is abortion is abhorrent yet it's fine for you to give birth to that baby but sorry now it had to die because it's ill and uninsured. \nAmerica you created greater costs. For example, you feel under the ill but you don't take time off to go to the doctor because 1) you boss will be pissed, 2) it costs money.\nA week later your getting no better, you have a heart attack. Now the cost is thousands and because you had time off work to recover you no longer have a job.\nMaybe had you gone a week earlier intervention would have been cheaper for you, your boss and the doctors.\nGlad I live in UK with excellent doctors and no worries about the family going bankrupt.
Daniel Day: I think it was Singapore – when they did their healthcare reform they studied the United \nStates to learn what not to do. \n\nWe do not have a healthcare system; we have a patchwork of healthcare systems driven by fee for service. \n\nAlso note that after the ACA was passed and much of the money being putting into the system was from the government, the pharmaceutical industry began increasing their prices. It's a mess designed to make money first and help the patient second.\n\nWHEN IT COMES TO HEALTHCARE WE ARE, LITERALLY, THE LAUGHINGSTOCK OF THE DEVELOPED WORLD!
Patrick Langan: Taiwan did the same thing.
Vio Rafael: Although we all want universal healthcare, a vast number of people who are sick do not know they can treat their illnesses with a whole foods, plant based diet. Studies show that a diet low in fat and high in fiber can prevent, stop progression and even reverse a lot of the issues presented in this program. It is truly sad these people are paying to have insurance to help them with something that has to do with lifestyle. The way they eat is affecting them. Type 2 diabetes, ulcerative colitis, depression, obesity, heart disease, asthma, Alzheimer's, prostate cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, lupus…etc–ALL of the illnesses in the program [we would need more info for the pregnancy case] can be treated without expensive drugs. Sick Around America is a good documentary and PBS is great, but they are leaving out a very important issue–the fact that Americans can largely treat themselves without expensive insurance and they don't do it because of all the misinformation about dieting.
Sassafrass Magillacutty: Vio Rafael*You are so right. Nutrition is everything. US doctors treat nutrition as an afterthought, if at all, bc there's simply no money in it. The majority still labor under the illusion: the doctor knows best. If patients don't advocate for themselves, they are at the mercy of someone's fucking bank account. The doctor doesn't give a shit about curing disease. They only treat symptoms with expensive drugs that do more harm than good, almost exclusively according to the kickbacks they get to prescribe it. It's not only negligent, sadistic & down right cruel, it's a complete undermining of an institution people trusted & depended on for their very fucking lives, shamefully executed by people who value paper over people's souls. Read, study, learn, stay informed.
Vio Rafael: I think most doctors believe in medicine. Also, they have not had extensive training in nutrition so I would disagree that doctors are the problem. If you follow the money, you are led to the meat/dairy/medical insurance industry. These industries distribute misinformation, even to the doctors at conferences promoting a new drug, etc.
ste glover: American health care is second to none. Providing you can afford it. But if you can't afford it your screwed.
Adam Grubb: Is this issue an American one in general or does this vary any significant amount by state?
Josh Whaley: Ok? in your fact free bubble how is that the ACA made things worse? Was it the guaranteed issue which required an individual mandate (the solution pushed in the video), was it allowing people to stay on their parent's insurance till 26?, perhaps it was the expansion of Medicaid?, or maybe your thinking that getting rid of recision was what did it? Though perhaps it was getting rid of lifetime caps. I know maybe its the subsidies most people get when buying individual insurance. I mean it's not like medical inflation is at 60 year lows or uninsurance rates at record lows or anything.
Sassafrass Magillacutty: Josh Whaley=Personally, I'm a healthy 35yr old female. I was uninsured, and so got coverage, when it was mandated. I paid $365 per month for a very basic policy, that pretty much covered office visits and had a discount prescription plan. Before insurance, my cash pay amount at my drs office was $50. That's all I paid for the visit w/o ins. I'd paid the ins premium, for 7 months, before I even used it. Went to dr for a cold. My portion to pay, after insurance, was $120. There were no additional procedures done, it was a simple visit & my drs prices did not go up. My prescriptions were also much more expensive, WITH INS. The entire plan is rife with corruption, & really only benefits those with pre-existing conditions. It was designed by insurance companies, for fucks sake hahaha now if you're getting the coverage for free, it's better than nothing, but the vaaaast majority of people are actually having to work a job and pay for sub-par, shitty ass coverage, for ourselves, our families, & the people on assistance. Its difficult to see the whole picture, from where any of us stand. I only attest to my personal experience.
joslyn moses: Where I work most health care providers will not even accept my work insurance, they say it is to hard to receive payment from the insurance company, even the companies own health care provider, so what am I paying for, they take money out of every pay check
