Ch. 3

6.
Making new medicines is a difficult task and it is also very expensive. Once people have put in all that money and effort to create this new medicine they put it on the market. People begin to buy it, but not everyone can afford it. Someone who needs this new medicine to go on living is unable to buy it. Because the company who made it has a patent on it this is the only place you can get the medicine and it is set at one price. This is where the government will step in and pay the company that made the medicine. Then the patent will no longer be in effect and the medicine can be made by other companies. This will make the price go down and people will be able to afford this new medicine. The difficult and somewhat disturbing question is what medicine will the government buy? There is no way to tell which illness is the worst. We cannot prioritize certain medicines over others. It is sad that someone may have to go on suffering because the government cannot purchase the medicine from a company to lower the price. There should be a better system in place when it comes to medicine. Obviously there is no perfect answer, but I believe everyone should get the medicine they deserve even if that person has made bad choices that lead to them needing the medicine.