Going Broke to Stay Alive

Just how much is a life worth? Here in North America, the price can easily be calculated, and most of us can't afford our own lives. That's the sad tale chronicled in BusinessWeek's Going Broke to Stay Alive. When cancer victims go to our health care systems, insurance providers and governments, they inevitably find out that while everyone is sorry to hear they're sick, no one is sorry enough to help pay the bills to keep them alive. The promising cancer drugs that may extend live from a few months to a couple of years are beyond the reach of most -- including those with insurance plans and property to mortgage. Why are the costs so high? Drug companies claim that they need to recover the money they sunk into R&D -- but economics 101 teaches us that there is a happy medium. Drug companies know they've priced their products out of reach of most patients -- but if they lowered the price, the would obviously reach more paying customers. Sell more for less, and surely, they would recover their R&D investment. But that's the price of a life. They really don't care about the lives their products are supposed to save. They've got patent protect on their drugs and there are no threats. When does the welfare of a country's citizens become the interest of the governments there to serve them?