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Access to Medicines Reform Passes House of Commons

March 10, 2011

Legislation aimed at reforming access to medicines in Africa passed the House of Commons yesterday, despite the objections of major pharmaceutical companies and Industry Minister Tony Clement. The bill must still clear the Senate. I wrote about the issue in 2009.

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3 Comments

Napalm says:
March 10, 2011 at 9:56 am

…
How about we fix these issues too:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/03/09/matt-gurney-ontario-tells-patient-to-come-back-when-shes-sicker/

Nap.
Jesse says:
March 10, 2011 at 12:35 pm

Hey Nap:

That was a great article. That is atrocious. I don’t agree with the author’s conclusion. That is, that we ditch the state-run system and go for a privatized approach. Surely any layperson can recognize that per capita many times more people go without treatment in the US than in Canada.
Napalm says:
March 10, 2011 at 1:13 pm

…
@Jesse: “I don’t agree with the author’s conclusion. That is, that we ditch the state-run system and go for a privatized approach.”

Neither do I.

Let’s summarize: She didn’t have a private insurance to cover that drug. Without the state run system she would have been completely hopeless. With the state run system her particular case didn’t went very well but at least she has a chance.

The other argument about “government is a bad manager of money”.

How comes the West European state run system costs half per capita than the US one, for similar quality services?

Nap.