The winners of this November’s election will have a unique opportunity to improve American healthcare. Neither higher taxes nor increased ObamaCare big government is the answer.
For guidance, look to the one area of health care where quality has improved and costs (inflation adjusted) have declined – cosmetic surgery. Why? Unlike the rest of the healthcare industry, cosmetic surgery typically is not reimbursed by insurance.
Consequently, patients choose carefully among alternative providers and weigh their out-of-pocket costs compared to risks and likely benefits. This is a free-market environment in which consumer choice and competition work to deliver high value to customers.
The operative word is freedom.
Freedom of choice involves access to new drugs that have passed FDA safety trials and shown positive results in initial clinical trials, but which have not yet been approved by the FDA. The world has been changing in ways that favor early access. This includes accelerating medical innovations, big data analytics, personalized medicine with drugs tailored to your genetic makeup, and patients’ enthusiasm for sharing data and participating in medical advancements.
Recently, the world changed in a significant way with Right To Try state legislation which permits patients fighting a terminal illness to get access to not-yet-FDA-approved drugs. Freedom is a powerful rallying call and 31 states have now passed Right To Try legislation with sky-high approval ratings by citizens.
Problems with Right To Try
Implementation of Right To Try would encounter big problems. But these very problems may set the stage for political support for freedom to make your own decisions about not-yet-approved drugs for a wide scope of illnesses.
Assuming there won’t be any federal Right To Try legislation signed into law, the states do not have the legal authority to circumvent the FDA. Moreover, drug developers have a major disincentive to participate because, to survive, drug developers need to secure FDA approvals for their new drugs. And circumventing the FDA by providing not-yet-approved drugs to terminally-ill patients could easily slow or prevent FDA approvals.
The Better Option
A better solution is Free To Choose Medicine (FTCM). It would solve the dilemma facing politicians who are pulled in one direction by citizens’ demands for more freedom and in the opposite direction by FDA proponents with demands for a highly-controlled process. A clear, brief explanation of FTCM is available on the Internet in the PowerPoint presentation, “Free To Choose Medicine and Right To Try.” It explains how we will all benefit from more freedom of choice.
FTCM has three components that greatly improve upon Right To Try.
Freedom of choice involves access to new drugs that have passed FDA safety trials and shown positive results in initial clinical trials, but which have not yet been approved by the FDA. The world has been changing in ways that favor early access. This includes accelerating medical innovations, big data analytics, personalized medicine with drugs tailored to your genetic makeup, and patients’ enthusiasm for sharing data and participating in medical advancements.
Recently, the world changed in a significant way with Right To Try state legislation which permits patients fighting a terminal illness to get access to not-yet-FDA-approved drugs. Freedom is a powerful rallying call and 31 states have now passed Right To Try legislation with sky-high approval ratings by citizens.
Problems with Right To Try
Implementation of Right To Try would encounter big problems. But these very problems may set the stage for political support for freedom to make your own decisions about not-yet-approved drugs for a wide scope of illnesses.
Assuming there won’t be any federal Right To Try legislation signed into law, the states do not have the legal authority to circumvent the FDA. Moreover, drug developers have a major disincentive to participate because, to survive, drug developers need to secure FDA approvals for their new drugs. And circumventing the FDA by providing not-yet-approved drugs to terminally-ill patients could easily slow or prevent FDA approvals.
The Better Option
A better solution is Free To Choose Medicine (FTCM). It would solve the dilemma facing politicians who are pulled in one direction by citizens’ demands for more freedom and in the opposite direction by FDA proponents with demands for a highly-controlled process. A clear, brief explanation of FTCM is available on the Internet in the PowerPoint presentation, “Free To Choose Medicine and Right To Try.” It explains how we will all benefit from more freedom of choice.
FTCM has three components that greatly improve upon Right To Try.
This article appeared at FEE.org at: https://fee.org/articles/in-health-care-freedom-is-the-only-way-forward/
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