Comments on: WHAT IS YOUR LIFE WORTH? http://www.healthcarebs.com/2008/12/05/what-is-your-life-worth/ Cleaning the Augean Stables of the Health Care Debate Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:00:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Marc B. http://www.healthcarebs.com/2008/12/05/what-is-your-life-worth/#comment-409269 Marc B. Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:47:01 +0000 http://www.healthcarebs.com/2008/12/05/what-is-your-life-worth/#comment-409269 Hey - the hat tip should be for me, as I referred to the NYT item in an earlier thread. Just to make your item clear, we are talking about possible weeks or months of often very poor quality life gained at the vast expense of marginally effective drugs; that the NICE model is pioneering and being adopted by other countries; and that your own cancer doctors are having more conversations with patients about quality of life and often wipe-outs of family savings. And as the NYT item makes clear, the NICE approach is forcing down drug prices, and: '... the idea of using price to determine which drugs or devices Medicare or Medicaid provides has provoked fierce protests. But Dr. McClellan said the American government would soon have no choice.' Hey - the hat tip should be for me, as I referred to the NYT item in an earlier thread. Just to make your item clear, we are talking about possible weeks or months of often very poor quality life gained at the vast expense of marginally effective drugs; that the NICE model is pioneering and being adopted by other countries; and that your own cancer doctors are having more conversations with patients about quality of life and often wipe-outs of family savings. And as the NYT item makes clear, the NICE approach is forcing down drug prices, and:

‘… the idea of using price to determine which drugs or devices Medicare or Medicaid provides has provoked fierce protests. But Dr. McClellan said the American government would soon have no choice.’

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