PHA-Exchange> Price control and regulation of drugs

[Claudio]

> From: "K Bala" <kbala12 at yahoo.com>

 "Why should the pharma  sector suffer the "rigours of price control" when
other producers are being decontrolled delicensed  and deregulated?".

 "There is a general impression that drugs in many
countries are not price controlled".

 A major policy decision on drug pricing  that will affect the health,
suffering and  death of millions should be based on the critical analysis of
empirical data and not on vague,
general impression (as mentioned by those who do not
want price controls).

 What is the international experience on drug pricing
 policies, regulation and control of the pharmaceutical sector?

Here is some empirical data.  All the advanced
industrialized countries (OECD) are market
economies, with liberalization and deregulation of
all sectors.  However, all these countries, except
the US, have kept health out of the market.  Market
forces do not dictate the price of drugs.  A system
of public health insurance either by general
 taxation or social security enables these countries
 to provide universal health coverage.  The US, the
 richest country in the world, has dismally failed to
provide universal health coverage for all its
 citizens.  Over 40 million people in the US have no
 health insurance and another 60 million are under
 insured.  This means that 40 percent of US citizens
 have no regular access to health care because this
 is the unfortunate outcome of shifting health to those who
 control market forces.

In 15 of the OECD countries, patients pay out of pocket
only 8-24 percent of the total healthcare costs.
 Even in the US, patients pay 35 percent of the total.
In India households have to pay over 80 percent out of
pocket. How much is it in your country?