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Comment by nickchuck | Hacker News Reader

From what I understand, the healthcare market isn't free at all. LOTS of regulation is what has caused this mess I believe.

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Its impossible to do an apples to apples comparison but I would imagine by most standards EU health markets are less regulated than American ones, just because the organizational structure is so much simpler and oversight is so much less distributed. Instead of needing policy on every kind of machine you can use in what configuration or parameter codified in law or by an agency by formal declaration the NHS just buys the stuff they want doctors to have.

It is much less free in France or Germany, and they spend considerably less for much better outcomes. You would never get an MRI for a sprained ankle in France, but on the other hand people do not die because they cannot afford insulin.

Ugh. I hate this story. In every popular story I've seen of "this person died because they couldn't afford insulin", it's really been a case of "this person died because they couldn't afford the most expensive insulin, and they weren't willing to switch to the DRASTICALLY cheaper insulins available".

- The story I'm looking at now had someone complaining he couldn't afford his Lantus.

- Lantus is pretty much the most expensive 24 hour insulin available. Last I checked it was something like $275 per bottle.

- Walmart has cheaper insulins R, N(PH) for somewhere in the range of $20-25. They're older insulins and don't work as well, but they are an option for any diabetic that can't afford the newer insulins. (Note, I can't find it on Walmart's web site but, as I understand it, you can't but it online, so that may be why)

For context:

- My insurance doesn't cover Lantus either. I take a generic (to be fair, I don't believe that generic was available at the time of the story) version of it.

- I used to take R and N insulin

The american healthcare market is possibly the most 'free' one in the world. Yet we're still failing with regards to countries that have far more regulations and restrictions.

It's time to stop perpetuating this myth. Especially in a thread directly about how the US overpays for everything compared to literally every other developed country on the planet.

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