One year of life costs $150,000!

Who would doubt that Big Pharm will increase the cost of treatment up to the highest level possible? Not me! The health is one of the most critical resources and the worst thing is to provide the monopoly rights for your health to anybody, especially to pharma.

A couple of fresh numbers (taken from here):

Cancer patients in the United States who were diagnosed from 1995 to 1999 lived an average 11.1 years after that, compared with 9.3 years for those in 10 countries in Europe

Those extra years came at a price. By 1999 (the last year the researchers analyzed), the United States was spending an average of $70,000 per cancer case (up 49 percent since 1983), compared with $44,000 in Europe (up 16 percent). Using standard figures for an extra year of life, the researchers concluded that the value of the U.S. survival gains outweighed the cost by an average $61,000 per case

A drug for advanced melanoma, it costs $120,000 for a full course of treatment. Clinical trials showed that Yervoy produces a near-miraculous cure for some patients, with a median increase in survival of 3.6 months.

U.S. spending on cancer care has continued to increase, reaching $72 billion in 2004, the last year for which data is available.

In the last decade, a number of very expensive cancer drugs were introduced into the United States, including Dendreon Corp's Provenge for prostate cancer ($93,000 per treatment) and Bristol and Eli Lilly and Co's Erbitux ($100,000 per year). Their analysis, say Philipson's team, "does not imply that all treatments are cost-effective."

Healthcare economists focused on a different aspect of the new study, namely, how much each additional year of life is worth. Philipson's team assumes a value of $150,000 to $360,000.

"Are American taxpayers willing to pay $150,000 in added taxes to purchase an added life year for some poor person?" asked health economist Uwe Reinhardt of Princeton University. "Does the urge to cut government spending on Medicare and Medicaid suggest Congress is willing to purchase added life years for anyone who cannot purchase it with his or her own money at a price of $150,000 per year?"