Coyote Blog

Socialized medicine supporters in the US often talk about Canada's really, really good and affordable care. Except no one can have any, but if they could get any care, I am sure they would love it. Check out this company, Timely Medical Alternatives. Specializes in getting you to the US so you can actually have your operation. Sure must be a mess if there is a niche for this.

And by the way, please don't tell me about lower drug prices in Canada. International markets pay marginal cost for drugs (ie just production cost) and we in the US pay full cost (ie including the development costs of the drug plus all the failures). Expanded programs to import marginal cost drugs from Canada will only mean that Canadian drug prices will go up - ours are not going down to those levels. And, if you pass a law saying somehow that they can't raise their prices in Canada and we can import at those prices, then drug R&D is over. Even if you told the drug companies that they were working for the good of man rather than profits, and dropped all their profits into lower pricing, you wouldn't get more than a 10-20% (depending on the company) price decrease for drugs. Are you really ready to kill all future drug innovations for a 15% discount on the current ones?

UPDATE

The Canadians have now made clear that they will not accept the Kerry plan for mass drug re-importation from Canada. Why? One would think that the socialized medicine supporting politicians in Canada would support Kerry and other socialized medicine supporters in the US. Fellow travelers stick together.

The reason, is, of course, that the Canadians have long ago recognized the truth in what I said above. US massive drug re-importation will just cause drug companies to raise prices in the target countries. Canada likes the below-full-cost pricing they get on drugs, and are opting to let the US keep paying for its drug development.

Our company operates in 10 states, so that means, each month, 16 sales tax reports (including counties and cities with separate reports), 10 withholding reports, 10 SUI reports, several workers comp reports not to mention annual health inspection reports, occupancy permit renewals, federal and state income tax forms, foreign corporation annual reports, etc, etc.

So, as happened today, when I get an optional monthly or quarterly survey to help support the commerce department data (or maybe it was labor department) it goes straight to the trash. I am sure this makes me a bad American, but does any small business owner really have time to fill out this junk, especially since the data will probably be used by some Congressman as an excuse to regulate me in some new and intrusive way?

The Commerce and Labor department data are often criticized for under-weighting small businesses and self-employment. I certainly believe it, and am proudly part of the problem.