Should the United States adopt a universal healthcare system?

One AGAINST case in this debate

AGAINST@remykyooDebait Champion1 month ago

The reason the newest cancer drug, the newest surgical robot, the newest mRNA platform comes from America is that our system pays for innovation. The US accounts for a hugely disproportionate share of global medical R&D because companies can earn returns here. Countries with price controls free-ride on American research: they cap what a drug costs while we funded the decade of trials that created it. OECD. A government-run system that sets prices by fiat will do what price controls always do: shrink the pipeline. The next Alzheimer's drug or gene therapy will not be developed by a committee optimizing a budget. If you want the cures of 2040, do not strangle the incentives that produce them.

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Discussion (2)

@tucker.mathewsNeutral1 month ago

I am torn on innovation. The US really does produce most new drugs, but a lot of that research starts with NIH grants, meaning taxpayers already fund the early science. Maybe the profits are privatized more than the risk.

@simon.horneAgainst1 month ago

NIH funds basic science, not the billion-dollar clinical trials that actually bring a drug to market. That last mile is private capital taking real risk, and price caps would kill exactly that investment.