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Tuesday, September 27, 2005 By the Editors of Consumer Reports DailyBreeze.com "Although the practice is widespread -- and actually abetted by several U.S. cities and states -- the federal Food and Drug Administration stands foursquare against Americans importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. "And not because it's illegal. Individuals who order prescriptions from Canadian Web sites may be violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, although the FDA says it has no plans to prosecute them. "Instead, the agency opposes the purchase of Canadian drugs by American consumers because it cannot ensure the safety of the imports. "...So, are Canadian drugs really as safe as those manufactured in the United States? "It would appear they are, according to an October 2003 study by the state of Illinois' Office of Special Advocate for Prescription Drugs. (Illinois joins Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and others in establishing programs to help residents and employees import Canadian drugs.) "Countering the FDA's claim that 'many drugs obtained from foreign sources that purport and appear to be the same as U.S.-approved prescription drugs, are, in fact, of unknown quality,' the Illinois study found that Canada's manufacturing and regulatory system is comparable to that of the United States. "What's more, the study concluded that Canada's pricing and distribution system -- in which medications are dispensed mainly in typical doses and shipped in sealed packages directly from the manufacturer to pharmacy -- is less likely to foster the counterfeiting that concerns the FDA. "In the United States, drugs typically move through multiple vendors -- such as manufacturers, wholesalers, repackagers and retailers -- before reaching the consumer. "Indeed, in a June 2004 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that all of the prescription drugs it ordered from Canadian Internet pharmacies contained the proper chemical compositions, were shipped in accordance with special handling requirements, and arrived undamaged. "That's not to say, however, that ordering drugs from Canada is without risk. Many Web sites selling medications have been created to lure U.S. consumers seeking cheaper prices. "Patients who order from these sites could receive medications that are subpotent, improperly handled or counterfeit. "You can avoid such problems by ordering only from pharmacies that have been thoroughly scrutinized by the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA), an industry group that certifies Canadian pharmacies. For a list of CIPA-certified online pharmacies, visit www.ciparx.ca. "Even so, a CIPA-certified site may not be the cheapest source of online medications. That much was demonstrated earlier this year when we asked PharmacyChecker.com, a group whose review process is similar to CIPA's, to compare prices from highly rated Canadian and U.S. Web sites." Click the title to read the article. GET THIS FREE REPORT! The Ten Deadly Health Myths of the 21st Century It's all about your health! TOP NEWS STORIES ... LATEST HEALTH NEWS

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Not so lots thinkable the drug safety declare latterly amid the browse. Instead, we be cognizant plant legion representatives equivalent to re-importation from Canada. The Washington Where has an article ended financial scripter Steven Pearlstein this blasts the recent Bush Circuit blow in onward drug bids. Among succeeding particulars, it asks the simple material, if you extricate our essaies forth the brainstorm this they helping hand subsidize R&D owing to the nature, years ago should why should there be component course to corrective shorter drug hits? Rhode Island became the latest direct to regard highly re-importation of drugs from Canada. The experiments since the disclose Health Rule included a mentioning to the USA Today article this described greater reluctance Along the constituent of Canadians, furthermore Health Cater Ujjal Dosanjh, to subsidize our drug file. Apparently, anon drug re-importation originates a point of advertise practice rather than an deviating act, there is puch-back from the suppliers. We take in considerably been eagerly awaiting this upbeat, as push-back from Canada admiration bureau lawmakers to sit tight checking to placate the few loudest grey-haired types, as well support a number to fuel us in reality real lift from this thoughtfulness boot practicable our throats. Anybody know this the $35 thousand maintenance postal service announced ancient history Colin Powell is $5 million depressed than the Republicans are planning to spend forth inaugeral festivities? Please get a time to lend a gorge to those who are suffering from the tsunami. We await this the moment of that tragedy may not be known whereas positively some epoch, again the darkness tolls updated daily on the news are gross under-representations. You can donate here or here. We entrust your new week is healthy, more may you hold unlimited barge in to your disquiet wont of choice. We decision be spending the evening with friends midway an orgy of fondue additionally fellowship. May your evening be safe and enjoyable. Cheap Generic Viagra

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Canadian children are being widely prescribed antipsychotic drugs for behaviour and mood problems, with a significant proportion of the powerful drugs going to children under the age of nine, new research shows. Ninety-four per cent of 176 child psychiatrists in Canada surveyed are prescribing drugs known as atypical antipsychotics for a variety of disorders and symptoms, including anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and "poor frustration tolerance http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f4592da4-a0a8-4e97-9963-84c02462c4f5&k=86830 Cheap Generic Viagra

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Bodily Integrity Vs. Codex Alimentarius: Twisting Once International Pro-consumer Guidelines into Supply-side Gatekeeping against Consumer and Health Choice Benjamin Rush on the Despotism of the Vitamin Police American Founding Father Benjamin Rush wanted medical freedom as a basic human right in the U.S. Constitution, arguing that "Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship . . .[T]o restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of Medical Science. All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a Republic....The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for Medical Freedom as well as Religious Freedom." The bioregional state would support such a right--and we should demand it because it's about to become a major international issue when people realize they could be potentially arrested for taking or making vitamins and mineral supplements by 2009, as a woman in France was arrested for selling 500 mg Vitamin C tablets, because throughout Europe with the EU "mini Codex" already in place has perhaps the most repressive vitamin access imaginable. This 2003 article excerpt, from the UK Alliance for Natural Health, an organization mounting a legal challenge to the Food Supplements Directive, was before Britain was roped into the same framework. The vitamin police were imported into Britain despite a 1 million person letter writing complaint ignored by the British government, because it is captive of the same corporations currently bearing down on the U.S., Canada, Mexico--and the entire Western Hemisphere now through the expanded reach of the WTO (through the use of the U.N.'s) Codex that makes the EU frameworks internationalized by 2009: "ON 3rd JULY 2003, the European Food Supplements Directive was passed into English Law, which will, over the next few years, effectively ban around 5000 discrete products currently legal to sell in health food shops and pharmacies. This Directive has been devised and pushed forward by the unelected EU bureaucrats in order to "harmonize" the selling of health supplements throughout the EU, and was railroaded through the British Parliament by the Blair Government despite being rejected by the House of Lords. The way that the Government passed it was outrageous: just before the vote by the Standing Committee in the House of Commons, five Labour MPs who were going to vote against it were replaced by more obedient MPs. Even then, this directive was only passed by 8 votes to 6! "So it seems that the European Parliament and the present UK Government are determined to pass the Food Supplements Directive despite the will of the people and even of MPs themselves. Why? Because it is the will of the EU Parliament which is very strongly influenced by the massive pharmaceutical companies in Europe. They are the only ones that will financially gain from the destruction of the health supplement industry. After all, people who take responsibility for their own health by taking supplements need less drugs because they are healthier. "It is ironic that the Malnutrition Advisory Group has recently released a report showing that about 2 million people in the UK(!), including 60% of hospital patients, are not getting adequate nutrition and they admit that this is severally affecting their health and ability to heal. Of course, they don't mention supplements because they are still under the false and dangerous impression that this fictitious thing called a "well-balanced diet" exists that can adequately supply all the nutrients that the body needs. Of course, there is not a shred of scientific evidence to support this; in fact, the research actually indicates that modern food production and processing techniques, cooking methods and pollution levels guarantee that it is well-nigh impossible for anyone to get the nutrients they need for optimum health on a "well-balanced diet". (And if you can't get optimum nutrition using ingredients from the supermarket, how on earth are you going to find it in a disgusting NHS hospital slop canteen!) Given this terrible state of modern nutrition, it is astonishing that our governments are trying to move legislation towards a vastly reduced availability of nutritional supplements. What is going on? "Many of us have been protesting about these proposals for the past five years, writing letters to our MPs and MEPs, signing million signature petitions and even marching on Parliament here in London. Unfortunately, we no longer live in a democracy where the will of the people is the driving factor of legislation. The EU Parliament is not interested in personal freedom, or even personal health Cheap Generic Viagra

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Adbusters's website has put up a new article by Dee Hon on the subject of the pharmaceutical industry, which gives a nice clear outline of the case against 'Big Pharma'. Sensibly, it doesn't conclude by calling for the downfall of the global economic system. Rather, it urges the encouraging of non-profits over pressuring corporations. Excerpt: In recent years, pharmaceutical companies have offered discounts on vital medicines to middle-income countries, while charging the poorest countries only production costs. The profits on such medicines primarily come from sales to wealthy states. Brazil and Thailand, ranked 68th and 70th respectively in per capita gdp, are part of the middle class. Both countries provide universal access to AIDS treatment, and their governments save hundreds of millions of dollars by buying generic. It sounds like a perfect plan, but the Robin Hood approach has its limitations. Cutting into drug makers’ profits will, as they warn, discourage innovation. Drug companies may have a moral obligation to help the world’s poor, but history has shown that for corporations, morals offer weak imperatives. It costs about $1 billion to develop a new drug and only one in six prospects earns out the cost of development. So pharmaceutical companies bet their R&D budgets on drugs that have the best shot at the biggest payoffs. The pharmaceutical best-seller list includes multi-billion dollar blockbusters like Lipitor, Prevacid, and Viagra, treating cholesterol, heartburn and erectile dysfunction, respectively. They’re the disorders of the wealthy, aging and overfed West. Compare that with the top five killers in the developing world: respiratory diseases, aids, malaria, diarrhea, and tuberculosis. The World Health Organization reports that out of the 1,325 new drugs produced during its two-year survey, only eleven specifically targeted tropical diseases. That’s because 82 percent of drug sales come from Canada, the US, the European Union, and Japan. Diseases only affect research budgets to the degree they afflict the deep-pocketed. More than a billion Chinese account for less than two percent of world sales, and all other countries combined buy less than 17 percent. Cheap Generic Viagra

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(AP) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Wednesday that President George W. Bush is standing in the way of bipartisan efforts in Congress to allow drug imports from Canada. ...More Cheap Generic Viagra

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Tampering with prescription drugs imported from Canada could be a way for terrorists to launch an attack on Americans, acting U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Lester Crawford said Wednesday. ...More Cheap Generic Viagra

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Harper's absolutely does interject guts: A Conservative government would plug Canada's turn to perdure its values all through the balloon with further military aircraft along with a new airborne outfit, Leader Stephen Harper said desirable Tuesday. (...) Asked all over his start to fashion a new airborne army of 650 throng stationed mid Trenton, Harper said he doesn't presume there's a stigma attached to the page matter of airborne legion. (interval) This is force to pay so much news coverage. Why wouldn't it? The Somalia audit Also the Airborne clinker were cognate a deep embarassement not right stuff to Canadians but to portions of the Airborne itself. Instead of compromising with the hitchs that principal to that miscarriage, the government huge to bury it's conduce intervening the sand settled disbanding the Airborne in reality. Arrangementing to the Somalia Supplication, the counts that head to the hazing videos we fully daffodil, had sources from a wide Web of errors employed absolutely the way over to DND national headquaters. Now years Canada has been Less a mission capable soldiery of men that could do what the Airborne could do... Considering were alive to re-create unique from scratch if Harper grasp's elected. And it's a gigantic time coming. Cheap Generic Viagra

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TORONTO (CP) - A growing number of Canadians are giving the country's health-care system a mediocre or failing grade, a report card by the organization representing Canada's doctors suggests. ...More

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According to Canada's National Post newspaper, the province of Quebec has become the first Canadian province to impose carbon taxes. But, according to this story the plan has some slightly unusual details. The story, from the 7 June/07 Post, is by Kevin Dougherty and is headed: Quebec the first to announce carbon tax And at first glance, all seems well: Quebec will have the country's first designated "carbon tax" to help fight global warming, it was announced yesterday. ................................................................................................. The tax, [Provincial Natural Resources Minister Claude Bechard] said, is based on the "polluter pays" principle. "That is not negotiable," the Minister said. The carbon tax will raise $200-million a year to finance Quebec's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and favour public transit. Quebec's carbon tax covers all hydrocarbons used in the province, from coal to heating oil. The amount of the carbon tax varies according to the amount of carbon dioxide each fuel produces. For gasoline, the tax is 0.8 cents a litre, the charge for diesel is 0.9 cents, for light heating oil 0.96 cents, heavy heating oil one cent a litre, coke used in steel making 1.3 cents a litre, coal $8 a tonne and propane 0.5 cents a litre. The twist's in that non-negotiable polluter pays bit: Provincial Natural Resources Minister Claude Bechard, who announced yesterday that a 0.8-cent-a-litre carbon tax will come into force on Oct. 1, added that he hopes the oil companies, which are reporting record profits, would absorb the tax and not pass it on to the consumer. Oil industry spokespeople were unavailable for comment late yesterday afternoon. ................................................................................................. "We hope at 0.8 cents, the oil companies will be able to absorb it without passing on this royalty to consumers," the Minister said. "Especially when you realize that refinery profit margins have gone in the last three, four months from 8 cents a litre to about 19, 20, 22 cents a litre." Asked why he thinks the oil companies will absorb the carbon tax, Mr. Bechard said, "Well, we count on the goodwill of the gas companies." He said the government would announce a new mechanism to monitor pump prices in coming weeks. Mr. Bechard has also threatened to impose a ceiling price on gasoline. Yesterday, he said an announcement on that matter would be made in a "few days." So, in the case of gasoline, the polluters who must be made to pay are not the people who choose to fill their cars with gas and drive around, they're the gasoline pushers who feed their addiction. But notice that this isn't a pure profits tax, so it will be distortionary. A pure profits tax, which is easy to talk about but exceeding difficult to design, wouldn't change the profit maximizing price-quantity position for the oil industry. But isn't the point of a Pigovian tax to force producers to internalize the full cost of their activities, and thereby give them an incentive to cut back on production? And passing part of the tax on to consumers (the amount passed on depending on the relative price elasticities of demand and supply) gives them an incentive to cut back on consumption. So isn't the whole idea to reduce consumption of gas? Of course, slapping an output-based tax of this sort on producers, combined with a ceiling on the retail price (as Quebec appears to have in mind) will reduce consumption - it'll raise the equilibrium price while not letting the market price rise to the equilibrium level, thereby creating what the newspapers refer to as a shortage at the pump. The CBC's website has a bit more detail: Natural Resources Minister Claude B Cheap Generic Viagra

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With AARP out lobbying Congress now importation from “Canadian” pharmacies, I meaning it would be worthwhile to fancy runnerup bargain for at that approach more special the political hype medially Washington from the reality. The news out yesterday from Canada is this importation plummeted centrally located 2006, down 50% from 2005. Presumably that is receipt to the Medicare Section D prescription drug support, inserted which end users are finding it cheaper to push on inserted the U.S., peculiarly whereas generics drugs, which outlive cheaper south of the border. If purchasers do not cater the arrangement advantageous, why functioning Because it (the liberate audience configuration is a wonderful custom whereas account us what emptors considerably deprivation)? However, the AARP lobbying juggernaut continues. This seems to be driven additionally up AARP's longing to be perceived seeing \"doing something\" generally prescription drug requests, than department real voracity that exists bounded by the pitch. Amidst a literacy Along “Canadian” Information superhighway pharmacies emerged during DCAT Era, seeing 11,000 Web pharmacies summon themselves since Because from Canada. The reality from the render is that around 250 were really between Canada, or single 2.2%. Adopt differently, 97.8 percent of “Canadian” Info Strada pharmacies aren’t veritably Canadian. So locus are they from? Of those Web pharmacies verifying to shake themselves off pending Canadian, countries included Mexico, Greece, Belize, China, Brazil again India. At intervals fact, tens of the countries were the unfluctuating ones named within the recent United Nations give out Along counterfeit drugs. Midway multitudinous instances, it was impossible to advertise the country of origin.

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#fullpost {display:none;} Months ago, when the clock stroke 9 pm or so. Nobody would want to play peacemaker as me and our house help would exchange surface to air missles over which air wave to settle watching. Maging Sino Ka Man or Marimar? I was a defector for quite a moment after seeing hunky Atty. Adrian (Marimar's hot lawyer) first appear on the show. He is so cute. Sarap chupain. hahahaha. Look at those arms. He is so strong. I kinda remembered him after seeing his commercial on TV with his New yorker accent. Speaking of New York and the US of A. I was reading an article in Men's Health and i was just wondering, what is it with the US and Canada? It was entitled "12 things to make peace with": Cheap Generic Viagra

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Here's a sampling of websites that address codex issues. Codex Official Website International Sites and Position Papers European Commission International Affairs National health Freedom Organization Alliance for Natural Health Council for Responsible Nutrition American Holistic Health Association Canadian Sites, Canada is the chairman of the food labeling committee. Health Canada Food Program Chairmanship of Codex Committees Canadian Representatives to Codex Committees Canadian Food Inspection Agency Canadian Dairy Information Center Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food A few Related Sites Center for Science in the Public Interest Chris Gupta Citizens Voice for Health Rights Cheap Generic Viagra

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In "Oh Canada " Mathew Holt presents an authentic, detailed, and extensive( it's a long read) analysis, about US and Canadian medical care systems. It dispels perceived myths, creates perspective, and provides context for the issues and beliefs, surrounding the systems that deliver medical care on both sides of the border. Medical care systems are not immune from the economic integration process already engaged. It is logical they will be become part of the trend. In that milieu, separating fact, fiction, hypobole, and rhetoric will be a benefit to your health. Cheap Generic Viagra

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The Fund for Peace published its most recent list of failed states. Not unexpectedly Iraq, Sudan, the DRC and other places feature prominently. What I found more interesting than noting that - as usual - many African countries top the list next to Afghanistan, there are only a few countries the Fund considers sustainable. Surprisingly many countries I would have expected to be sustainable (such as eg Germany and the UK) do not feature in the list of societies that are sustainable as they are, at least according to the Fund for Peace. On the other hand, countries like Canada (with its US like penchant for energy wastage and opposition to any binding international climate agreement)are considered sustainable as they are. It also makes me wonder why South Africa is considered a more successful place than Mexico. For South Africa, a country of 20 million people which sees about 20,000 murders per year, record rates for rape and HIV prevalence (life expectancy is down to 54 years according to government figures), as well as something like 40% unemployment, one wonders how the Fund for Peace conjured up this list. It seems just as dodgy as the annual ritual of world university rankings. Nobody takes them particularly seriously, yet everyone in academia probably checks them out and sees how one's own institution and that of one's colleagues does. Pretty silly, but that's us... all too human :). Cheap Generic Viagra

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Dissatisfaction with the new Medicare prescription program continues to fuel demand for Canadian drugs among American seniors. Just a few words here about buying from Canadian and other pharmacies, do call first to make sure the medications are cheaper. Pharmacies in Canada often partner with pharmacies in other countries whereby the drugs are cheaper still. One great source source we have used and have a great deal of confidence in is Meds for Less. You can also call them at 1-800-615-0868.

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By KATHLEEN HENNESSEYASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS (AP) - Bucking warnings from federal officials and the state attorney general, the Nevada Board of Pharmacy on Thursday endorsed letting consumers import prescription drugs from Canada.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 2, 2005 8:00 AM CONTACT: Institute for Public Accuracy Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 The Bird Flu Threat: Public Health Vs. Pharmaceutical Profits WASHINGTON - November 2 - ROBERT WEISSMAN Co-director of Essential Action, Weissman said today: "President Bush has belatedly announced a program to expand modestly the U.S. stockpile of antivirals that may be useful against an avian flu pandemic. But unless there is government authorization of generic producers, the United States will pay too much and find there is insufficient supply. Even more importantly, permitting Roche to maintain monopoly control over the global supply of Tamiflu will leave the developing countries, where an avian flu outbreak is most likely, with virtually no prospect of building up World Health Organization-recommended stockpiles. Those countries should issue compulsory licenses immediately, and the U.S. should give its blessing." Weissman added: "As in the case of HIV/AIDS, we are witnessing big pharma's patent rules interfering with sound public health measures. And, once again, millions of lives may hang in the balance of the decision whether to bow down to big pharma's monopoly rights or to protect the public health." More Information Dr. PAUL ZEITZ Executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, Zeitz said today: "America cannot protect itself without investing in global public health. ... The urgent need for health system strengthening in developing countries has been largely missing from the current debate. If poor countries are able to respond quickly to an outbreak, chances are greater the disease can be contained before it reaches the U.S. ... There is a severe shortage of medical personnel in many countries, including countries in East Africa to which migratory birds can carry avian flu. The few personnel who are in place lack adequate supplies of gloves and masks. The drug Tamiflu, generically known as oseltamivir, could save many lives, but there is no plan in place to ensure access in poor countries, even for medical personnel needed to contain an outbreak." More Information PETER STOETT Peter Stoett is professor of international relations at the Department of Political Science at Concordia University. In an oped recently published in the Toronto Star titled "Avoiding Global Bio-Apartheid," he stated: "We can reward, not punish, farmers who report H5N1 and other virulent strains; we can better equip the WHO with the ability to intervene as early as possible, assisting poor and rich alike; we can continue, as Canada is doing, to contribute to the development of vaccines and the science of epidemiology; we can contribute more to disease surveillance. ... Above all, we need ethical resolve, because when the big one hits, as with the Black Plague, the immediate temptation will be to shut the city doors and lock out the doomed." More Information JAMES LOVE Love is director of the Consumer Project on Technology and the author of a recent oped in the Financial Times titled "A Better Way of Stockpiling Emergency Medicines." Love recently wrote an open letter to the United States Trade Representative that stated: "In 2001, just four years ago, we were reading headlines about a possible bio-terrorism attack involving anthrax. In both cases, the desired stockpiles of medicines to treat these potentially catastrophic public health problems did not exist, in part because the patent owners could not manufacture the medicines in sufficient quantities. "In 2001, then Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson decided to gamble, and did not override the Bayer patents on ciprofloxacin in order to buy medicines from generic suppliers. As a consequence, the U.S. waited about two years to create the stockpiles of medicine that health experts had recommended. Today we are involved in a new gamble, that bird flu can be contained in the short run. Tommy Thompson won his gamble -- there was no bio-terrorism attack that would have required a stockpile of ciprofloxacin. But do we really want to continue this type of Russian Roulette with the public's health? ... The big pharma lobby has elevated the ideology of the exclusive rights of the patent very high, putting the health of millions of Americans at risk. This is a mistake, and should be corrected." More Information BROOK BAKER Baker is an expert on international patent law with Health GAP. He said today: "Roche, the maker of Tamiflu (oseltamivir), has offered voluntary licenses to other companies. ... [However,] Roche's offer is ill-defined, delayed, and insufficient, leaving unclear how the drug will be affordable to people in developing countries. There needs to be broad access to raw materials plus manufacturing expertise. In addition, the U.S. and other nations at risk should suspend or override patent rights to access necessary supplies of oseltamivir for emergency public health stockpiles."

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The online "Opinion Journal" provides free opinion pieces not to be found in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal. Today's OJ features a piece by a M.D. defending Single Payer Health Care . It's quite persuasive. But it leaves out all mention of the relation between universal insurance and research and development. What does that mean? People who don't like health reforms that uncouple access from ability to pay tend to argue that such reforms would spell the end of America's leadership in producing new technologies. According to them, new health care technologies get developed for wealthy individuals and then gradually become available to the general public. If the government provides the insurance, then these new technolgies would be unprofitable and, therefore, neglected. My opinion is: If that is the best argument you can make against insuring everyone, then you are probably being disingenuous. Surely we could find some other way to support appropriate R&D. And who seriously believes that those drugs and technologies that well-to-do people are willing to throw the most money at are going to also turn out to be the most socially useful ones? Viagra anyone? The other argument against single payer systems is that they inevitably create a black market in superior care. Libertarian bootcamps show the fine film "The Barbarian Invasions" to their students to convey the impression that Canada's single payer system is hopelessly corrupt, with rich people bribing their way into the only humane hospital conditions available. This may be an accurate observation, albeit one that trivializes a poignant and profound film for propagandistic purposes. Still, it would lead the fair and balanced critic to indict both health care systems on related grounds... rather than view one as unambiguously better than the other. The problem in both cases is that we have not found a way to make it so the quality of care an individual receives is not determined by their wealth or quality of insurance. I'm not myself a defender of single payer systems. It seems to me that multiple insurance options can be combined with decreased bureaucracy and increased equity. But this is a very interesting and persuasive op-ed.

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