In his recent report on European pharmaceuticals, Oliver Schoffski, at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, looks at the treatment of 20 illnesses across Europe and incorporates nearly 200 studies of how people were treated. He paints a picture of non-treatment and under-treatment for common diseases such as schizophrenia, heart disease and asthma.
The reasons are complex and not exclusively related to government policies; but he finds that governments and specifically their funding decisions are a major source of the woes.
Why are all these governments working to keep doctors from prescribing proven and effective medications? It’s a matter of money. In Germany, for example, the government pays for nearly 70 percent of prescription drugs. To bureaucrats eager to keep to their budgets, new drugs are seen only as new expenses even if they save lives.
Source: David Gratzer, How Not to Handle Health Care, Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2003.
For text http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106497014565175500-search,00.html
For study text http://www.leadershipmedica.com/scientifico/sciefebbr03/scientificaing/2pavonee/2pavoneing.htm
For more on Drug Benefit and Medicare Reform http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea/
FMF Policy Bulletin\7 October 2003
