Drug prices rose 3.6% in 2012, twice the 1.7% inflation rate. Individual drug prices roses even faster. In the first 9 months of 2012, a heartburn drug called Nexium jumped 7.8% (a $262 average prescription); Abilify, for bipolar disorder, increased 10.4% ($642 per prescription); Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug, went up 9.7% ($193 per prescription). At this rate, if the insurance companies don't bankrupt government and the middle class, the drug companies will.
Conclusion #1: There's no perfect health care system anywhere in the world, and whether the best system possible is one that is state-funded or market-based is debatable.
Conclusion #2: "Among advanced economies, the U.S. spends the most on health care on a relative cost basis with the worst outcome." Bloomberg
Conclusion #3: The US health-care system combines the worst features of both state-funded and market-based systems with none of the advantages of either.
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