Let’s all move to New Zealand (at least for the health care)

You know how American politicians (at least the Democrats) and health care advocates are always on about what an AWESOME deal Canada gets on its prescription drugs because of collective government bargaining with drug companies instead? Well....now Canadians are all going on about how much better the New Zealand government haggles with BigPharma because they do it on a NATIONAL level and Canadian drug programs are administered by individual province. I guess the grass IS always greener. Especially when comparing yourself to a small island nation with annual rainfalls in excess of 10,000 millimeters per year in some places.

I digress. This nation-wide bargaining has obvious payoffs: on average, New Zealanders pay 50% less for common medications such as cholesterol-lowering statins and SSRI antidepressants than Canadians. That’s a big ol’ difference and if Canada can adopt a national registry of drugs, then DO IT.

But see here’s what I think. Big Pharma is all about being nice to a nice country hanging out alone at the bottom of the Pacific. Reducing prices even further for a country that likes to sell its already pretty cheap drugs via the internet to the Cash Cow* that is their southerly neighbor? Not so much.

*moo