¶ An inevitable problem has finally arrived: new drugs that extend the lives of prostate cancer patients by months — by two years at most — are going to be very expensive. As a preliminary pushback, Medicare and insurers alike are expected to underwrite the drugs’ expense only if they are used according to the instructions on the label. This restriction will narrow the field of eligible patients. The larger question of affordability is not, for the moment, being addressed. But the issue that will lead to discussion of triage and rationing is squarely in front of us. How much are “marginal” extenstions of life worth — in a world where an one more day of life is “marginal” only for other people? Also unaddressed is the drugs’ actual costs to pharmaceutical companies, an accounting jungle if ever there was one.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 10:30 am.