Medicine or money? How much profit can a person generate?

Health care is not a 'right' but is a responsibility. As you get older, that is reality.

THIS is the debate we should have been having over health care reform.

Just like the motto out of the  8055 M.A.S.H unit in Korea - 'The Best Care Anywhere'.

THAT should be America's motto when it comes to health care.

Not the babble of 'Oh it's not in the Constitution'.

I guess turning our hea;lth care system into a third World nations triage of the 'have's' get and the 'have not's' don't IS in our Constitution.

The health care debate should have been - 'How to provide the 'Best Care Anywhere'.

Yet another reason America is failing. We made even health about politics not people.

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'Drug shortages mean a growing number of Americans aren't getting the medications they need. That's causing drug companies and doctors to ration available medications in some cases'.

"We're now at 213 shortages for this year," says Erin Fox of the University of Utah, who tracks national drug shortages. "That surpasses last year's total of 211. And it doesn't seem like there's an end in sight'."

'The shortages involve a wide range of medications: cancer chemotherapy agents, anesthetics, antibiotics, electrolytes needed for nutrient solutions, and dozens more. One drug currently in short supply is used in critically ill patients to bring down soaring blood pressure'.

'Most drugs in short supply have been older generic drugs, which are generally less profitable. Hospitals are most affected, because many scarce drugs are intravenous forms, not pills dispensed in bottles'.

'But actually, officials at the Food and Drug Administration say only 11 percent of shortages happen because a company decides to stop making an unprofitable drug. Most shortages, they say, occur because something goes wrong in the manufacturing process that halts production'.

'The problem today is there are fewer companies making essential drugs. So when one manufacturer stops producing, there may be only one other supplier – and it can't keep up with demand'.
From : http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/10/03/140958404/shortages-lead-doctors-to-ration-critical-drugs?sc=fb&cc=fp

The Shortages : http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/ucm050792.htm