Originally Posted By: Mithus
To me when you create/develop a service/product you gain money so you are not losing your GDP to it, because the rest of the world will pay for it, so its a not a cost like you were trying to pass, if I understand.


I think the language barrier is beating us up here. I didn't suggest that making medicine is a cost to be factored in to the percent of GDP spent on medical care. I'm making exactly the opposite case, that money spent on R&D should not be included in the numbers that Sinj has posted to show that the US spends more per capita on health care than other countries.

Something else just occurred to me. I used to have a friend in New Zealand. She suffered from chronic bronchitis, the cure for which is a minor surgery (tonsillectomy I think). Their socialized medical care would not provide that operation for her unless her bronchitis was life threatening. Instead she was forced to go see a doctor 3 to 4 times a year and wait for hours each time (after waiting days for an appointment) to get a prescription for an antibiotic (over use of which, by the way, only serves, through evolution, to ensure that those bacterium continue to grow stronger and stronger by eliminating the weak ones and selecting for those that are resistant to the drugs) that would then take several more days to eliminate the infection so she could return to work. Now, the medical treatment was nearly free for her, but what about the cost of her lost time at work, to both her and to the company she worked for? What about all the other folks who could be helped when they are wasting time seeing her over and over and over again rather than fix the problem once and for all? These are just a few of the problems with "free" medical care.

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