🚀 go-pugleaf

John Levine <jo...@taugh.com> wrote:
> In article <2bk18dtm8hmppb1jv...@4ax.com>,
> J. Clarke  <jclarke...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> They may cycle more, but French and Germans drink about 12 litres of
>>> alcohol per year, Americans drink 9.
>> 
>> 12 liters per year works out to a little over an ounce a day, a
>> quantity that the doctors believe may have a variety of health
>> benefits.
> 
> That's the average.  Half drink more, often much more, half drink less.
> In the U.S. about 1/3 of adults don't drink at all.
> 
>>> They sure do when you're negotiating drug prices.  Everywhere but the
>>> US there are drug price caps, yet despite all the moaning and groaning
>>> the drug companies continue to sell in those countries and to be very
>>> profitable.
>> 
>> Economies of scale come on the production side, not on the sales side.
> 
> OK, feel free to call them Economies of Plugh when negotiating with
> drug companies.  But they sure make a big difference.
> 
>>> That would also affect prices.  US doctors are paid about twice what
>>> doctors are other places for similar work.  One excuse for that is
>>> that US doctors, at least in their early years, have education debt to
>>> pay down.
>> 
>> It would affect prices because more workers for a given number of
>> openings means lower wages, unless there are artificialy wage controls
>> in place.
> 
> I'm getting the impression that you're not very familiar with the way that
> the US medical system works.  When's the last time you price shopped for a
> doctor?
> 

You're starting to get "doc in a box" operations in drug stores, etc. which
are cheaper, quicker, and just as good for many conditions. If restrictions
were loosened on what nurse-practioners, PAs, etc. can do they would be
even more widespread. I think people _do_ shop for medical care by price,
when such information is available.

-- 
Pete