Not a chance.
By: Mary Wilson, Opinions Editor
At a recent visit to my gastroenterologist, I was prescribed a new medicine to treat my Crohn’s disease.
“You haven’t responded well enough to the other medications,” my doctor said. “Have you heard of Humira?”
And with that, my quest began. I knew that healthcare costs and medication prices were higher in the USA—in some cases, significantly higher. I’d heard politicians and Facebook commenters alike debate the merits of “universal healthcare.”
And so, while I was on hold with insurance companies, I began to research, drafting an article in my mind.
Humira is a biologic drug. The discovery of biologic drugs is relatively new; according to the Biosimilars Resource Center website; the first biologic approved was human insulin. It was marketed in 1982.
Biologics, according to the Biosimilars Resource Center website, are “made from material that comes from living organisms, including humans, animals and microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast.”
So-called ‘conventional medicines’ (or, for the science-minded: small- molecule drugs) “are made from pure chemical substances, and their structure can be identified and characterized relatively easily.”
So if biologics are more difficult to make, it would make sense that they would be more expensive. Right? That’s certainly logical.
According to statista.com, in 2017, in the United Kingdom, the average price of Humira per dose was $860 U.S. dollars. In the Netherlands, it’s a little lower, coming in at $780 U.S. dollars per dose. South Africa is even lower, costing $740 U.S. dollars per dose.
In 2017, in the United States of America, the average price of Humira per dose was $4,480.
I’m confused—is the Humira that doctors prescribe in the USA different than the Humira doctors prescribe in the United Kingdom? Does it come in fancier packaging? What could explain such a dramatic difference in price for the same medication?
Let’s move away from medication prices and take a look at babies.
Businessinsider.com reports that the “average cost to have a baby in the U.S., without complications during delivery, is $10,808.” This does not include the care moms-to-be receive before and after pregnancy.
Over $10,808 to deliver a baby is a lot, yes. But if that’s what it takes to deliver a healthy baby, then it’s worth it. Right?
In Canada, insider.com reports that “the average price for a natural birth is only $3,195.”
It would be one thing if the USA boasted the lowest rates for maternal and infant mortality. However, that’s simply not true. The CIA World Factbook lists a high maternal mortality rate for mothers in the USA: 14 deaths per 100,000 live births. In contrast, the rate for Canada is seven deaths per 100,000 live births.
Infant mortality is also higher in the USA than in other countries with universal healthcare.
The CIA World Factbook puts the United States at 5.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. Canada has a rate of 4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.
So there it is: healthcare costs more in the USA than in other countries with universal healthcare. Countries with universal healthcare have better maternal and infant mortality rates. And we spend more, too: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website says that as a share of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), “health spending accounted for 17.7 percent.” In other words, in 2018, we spent $11,172 on each person.
In Canada, healthcare spending is “$7,068 per person,” according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Is our current healthcare system working? Not really. It’s more expensive, less effective and our country spends more per person on healthcare compared to other countries.
