General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Whups

The guy from Liverpool University who compiled the report you refer to was interviewed by Andrew Neil last week. He wasn’t convincing with his answers especially when Andrew Neil said that American friends of his nipped over the border into Canada to buy their prescription drugs. Canada has a free trade deal with the US.
When President Trump rails against Americans overpaying for drugs he puts Canada in the same frame as the EU, including the UK. He does, however, have a point in that the US drug bill, converted to Sterling, of around £300 billion would be less than half of that figure based on European pricing. His problem is that very few administrators in the US are willing to investigate it along the lines of a European Competion inquiry or the UK control mechanism NICE.
If the Tories win the election with a decent majority I’ll have a £100 wager with you. At the end of the next Parliament the NHS will still be buying drugs on the present pricing basis. The Langley Health Bill will be amended to give more control of patient care to clinicians and the upper limit for the amount of private sector involvement with patients will be reduced nearer to the customary level of 6%.