Dividing Health Costs !

Australia is termed a "rich country "and that has drawbacks.   Each year 630 Australian  citizens die from a disease known as Hepatitus C and now a new miracle drug has been discovered that not only cures this disease but prevents it infecting others.   The problem is that it is expensive - and a full course of "Solvadi "costs $ 84,000.

Medical statistics reveal that there are 230,000 people in this country suffering from Hepatitus C - and about a third of them are on the waiting list for a liver transplant.  If Solvadi gained listing on the PBS it would free up the liver donor flow and save a lot of people suffering other liver diseases, but it would impose at least a two billion hit on the national health bill - and that has been ruled out for the immediate future.

So - we have a "Catch 22 "situation.   The vast number of middle class Australians would certainly be able to raise $ 84,000 if that was the price of saving their life.   That is not an insurmountable figure for a person with some home equity, superannuation and probably a reasonable amount of savings, but it is way out of reach for the bottom ten percent - who are totally reliant on the PBS for their health care.

In recent times," big pharmacy " on the world scene has adopted a humanitarian approach and licensed the production of generic versions of their products under patent in the rich world to third world countries.   Countries like India and Fiji are getting a heavily discounted version to treat the diseases that are otherwise a death sentence to their citizens because of lack of money.

There is every chance that dealing with Hepatitus C will become a new chapter of "medical tourism " and join a plethora of third world medical centres that offer a combined "holiday/cure " in modern facilities that are way beyond the financial reach of their own citizens.   Sadly, such options are also an impossible dream to the lower order of Australian society - in which the next meal depends on whatever small change remains in their pocket.

Australian health planners face a conundrum.   If they list Solvadi on the PBS it will blow out the health budget because the vast majority of Australian Hepatitus C sufferers will rush for a cure in Australian hospitals, but if it remains unlisted the wealthy will turn to overseas suppliers - and the poor in this country will remain untreated.

Unfortunately, this also has a knock-on effect.   The companies that develop new disease fighting drugs do so at great expense and seek to recover their development costs.   When the sales level to a rich country starts to fall because it's citizens are travelling to a third world country for treatment, the immediate response is to lower the quantities subjected to generic discounts.   The consequences are not hard to predict.      Third world countries are making more money treating foreign clients than dealing with their own citizens, and hence what supplies remain are withdrawn from the treatment of poor locals.

It's a vicious circle, and as scarcity drives up prices in overseas medical clinics, so pressure grows in Australia to include these drugs on the PBS - and the losers are always those denizens who lack the resources to access modern medicines !