Flu vaccine - supply & demand (unreal article)

[sandnsea]

I love Montana, but good lord, if you ever wanted to know why red states vote red, here it is. And remember, Missoula is the liberal part of Montana. The editor's health care solution appears to be, if you can't afford health care, die. :eyes:

"Higher prices would go a long way toward solving all those problems. If flu vaccine really matters (it can, but until now, not enough people seemed to grasp that fact), people ought to be willing to pay accordingly. The price should reflect what it's worth to stay healthy, to keep employees productive, or to avoid the high insurance payouts associated with hospitalizations and deaths. You could, say, quadruple the cost of flu vaccine without approaching the cost of treatment and lost productivity. Raise the price that much, and you'd find more companies interested in producing vaccine, more willing to risk legal liabilities associated with injecting healthy people that can, sometimes, make them sick. Raise the price high enough, and you might even generate the political support for limiting the liability companies face when selling properly made vaccine. Higher prices leading to higher profits might even induce American companies to produce vaccines in America."
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2004/10/24/opinion/opinion4.txt

[DiverDave]

1. This says it all

"and isn't profitable enough to interest U.S. producers.

Once again, it is the profit margin, not people, driving the pharma company's.
Rat bastards, profits over people, the new repuke mantra.

[sweetheart]

2. what a dick

The rules of supply and demand have no place in public health.
By that ridiculous standard, we should not vaccinate against
polio, so that more people can find jobs from rich polio victems.

I think the public health should think more like medic's in the
military. When one member of the herd gets sick it threatens the
well being of the whole herd, and vaccinations should be a matter
of public health. THey should be free in all schools to all kids
and teachers, and then available for a nominal charge to the rest
of the public.

What if a contageous disease were to break out from a bioweapon.
The organizational capacity should be in place, and practiced to
innoculate 100% of the population from such threats in zero notice.
Clearly they don't take homeland security seriously... and no
wonder red states are net welfare recipients.

[Spinzonner]

3. OK, what problem do you have with

the Charle$ Darwin approach to Health Care ?