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American Sicko can reach out to India
Michael Moore's latest film Sicko is a scalding indictment of the American health care system which has been exploited by rapacious medical insurance companies and Big Pharma. You can't help feeling sick after watching the movie. Moore's account shows that the world's most advanced country is letting its corporations suck the life of its citizens.
Moore examines the system in Canada, France, Britain and Cuba, all of which have free, universal health care, to humiliate US political leadership, most of which he shows is in the pay of big corporations. But as far as Maggi Grace is concerned, Moore has missed out on one story closest to her heart.
In 2004, Grace arranged for her friend Howard Staab, like her a North Carolina resident, to visit India for a heart surgery. Like some 50 million Americans, Staab, an otherwise healthy carpenter, did not have health insurance. A routine exam revealed a serious heart problem. Worse news followed fixing it without insurance cover would cost $200,000.
That's when Grace began hunting on the Internet for a way out and discovered India. Staab and she came to Delhi in September that year and got the mend for less than $20,000, with a trip to Taj thrown in.
Grace has related the experience in a forthcoming book called "State of the Heart" to be published by Harbinger. The book's subtitle is "A Medical Tourist's True Story of Lifesaving Surgery in India."
Since then, scores of Americans have travelled to India for medical fixes. India's medical tourism business is estimated to touch $2 billion per year by 2012. Maggi has also returned to India to work on other issues, including helping tsunami victims.
There's not a single mention of India in Moore's documentary even as he rails against the American system and its off-the-wall costs.
While India's health care at the basic, primary level is dismal, there are a couple of areas where it can bail out US and help itself.
One is of course top quality, low-cost treatment that Maggi and Howard experienced. Some US employers and the insurance industry are starting to recognise that is one way of bringing down costs.
Another area is outsourcing research and manufacture of drugs. Medicines cost the earth in the US.
Big Pharma says this is because they spend up to a $1 billion to develop a blockbuster drug and they need to earn back the investment. Indian drug companies sell it cheap because they don't invest so much in research and just make knock-offs.
This is only partly true. The fact is US corporations also spend enormous amounts of money on advertising, PR, political contributions and others. The drug industry spends $1.5 billion each year in advertising on just major US television networks. If you saw, American TV, you'd think this is a nation of sick people. How many ads of Cipla, Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy have you seen on Indian television screens?
Lately, western Big Pharma is starting to work with companies such as Ranbaxy and Nicholas Piramal to develop blockbuster drugs. They estimate it can be done for as little as $50 million in India. Drug multinationals are said be outsourcing to India work on some 500 new drugs.
It might not solve America's problems, but some folks might feel better just at the prospect of paying less for medicines.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...an_reach_out_to_India/articleshow/2206011.cms
Michael Moore's latest film Sicko is a scalding indictment of the American health care system which has been exploited by rapacious medical insurance companies and Big Pharma. You can't help feeling sick after watching the movie. Moore's account shows that the world's most advanced country is letting its corporations suck the life of its citizens.
Moore examines the system in Canada, France, Britain and Cuba, all of which have free, universal health care, to humiliate US political leadership, most of which he shows is in the pay of big corporations. But as far as Maggi Grace is concerned, Moore has missed out on one story closest to her heart.
In 2004, Grace arranged for her friend Howard Staab, like her a North Carolina resident, to visit India for a heart surgery. Like some 50 million Americans, Staab, an otherwise healthy carpenter, did not have health insurance. A routine exam revealed a serious heart problem. Worse news followed fixing it without insurance cover would cost $200,000.
That's when Grace began hunting on the Internet for a way out and discovered India. Staab and she came to Delhi in September that year and got the mend for less than $20,000, with a trip to Taj thrown in.
Grace has related the experience in a forthcoming book called "State of the Heart" to be published by Harbinger. The book's subtitle is "A Medical Tourist's True Story of Lifesaving Surgery in India."
Since then, scores of Americans have travelled to India for medical fixes. India's medical tourism business is estimated to touch $2 billion per year by 2012. Maggi has also returned to India to work on other issues, including helping tsunami victims.
There's not a single mention of India in Moore's documentary even as he rails against the American system and its off-the-wall costs.
While India's health care at the basic, primary level is dismal, there are a couple of areas where it can bail out US and help itself.
One is of course top quality, low-cost treatment that Maggi and Howard experienced. Some US employers and the insurance industry are starting to recognise that is one way of bringing down costs.
Another area is outsourcing research and manufacture of drugs. Medicines cost the earth in the US.
Big Pharma says this is because they spend up to a $1 billion to develop a blockbuster drug and they need to earn back the investment. Indian drug companies sell it cheap because they don't invest so much in research and just make knock-offs.
This is only partly true. The fact is US corporations also spend enormous amounts of money on advertising, PR, political contributions and others. The drug industry spends $1.5 billion each year in advertising on just major US television networks. If you saw, American TV, you'd think this is a nation of sick people. How many ads of Cipla, Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy have you seen on Indian television screens?
Lately, western Big Pharma is starting to work with companies such as Ranbaxy and Nicholas Piramal to develop blockbuster drugs. They estimate it can be done for as little as $50 million in India. Drug multinationals are said be outsourcing to India work on some 500 new drugs.
It might not solve America's problems, but some folks might feel better just at the prospect of paying less for medicines.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...an_reach_out_to_India/articleshow/2206011.cms
