Whats really driving up our health care costs?

The real cost driver in our Canadian health care system is the blank slate health care professionals especially physicians have in determining therapeutic options for you. For example, is the most expensive drug on the market needed to treat some conditions or will a suitable generic substitute be more cost effective and achieve the same goals?

The physician receives a "spiff" from the patented drug company to prescribe certain medications. The patient comes in with a common condition and is prescribed a drug that the drug company has paid the physician to write. Many times uninsured patients will not be able to afford the medication prescribed when a lower cost alternative is available. Is this good medical practice?

So utilization is more of a cost driver than pure medication costs. Physicians should not just be allowed to prescribe a range of very expensive options or theraputic interchange at the pharmacy level should be permitted. Drug utilization needs to become a reality for most common conditions. The extra money could be re-cycled in the healthcare system to retain physcians and train more health care professionals.

Nurse Practitioners and certified pharmacists should be able to prescribe and treat common conditions to free-up physicians to manage complex conditions and our geriatric patients. Physcians should be duly compensated for their efforts. Healthcare professionals, including Doctors, should work within a new collabortive model similiar to the United Kingdom. One of the main reasons for the expensive and labourious system we have now is because physicians are simply "protecting their turf" at the expense of our health system and patients. Canadians deserve better.

Vote for strong willed politions to save our health care system and stand-up to the medical lobby.