Should the public have a say in high-cost drug subsidies?

[AussieNeil]

Sally Wortley, Research Fellow and PhD candidate School of Public Health and Deme Karikios, PhD Candidate, NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre and Clinical Lecturer in Medicine, both at University of Sydney argue that the Australian public (i.e. the taxpayer) should have a say in which high cost drugs are subsidised by the government:

theconversation.com/why-the...

The article compares the approach in Australia with that in the UK and New Zealand and mentions a "Citizen's Jury" as a possible approach to determine which expensive drugs should get funding.

What do you think? Is there an equitable model system in use anywhere in the world that can help us make this tough decision on how much money should be spent extending a patient's life?

Neil

Photo: Royal Spoonbill in a reflective pose

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

In Canada, the province of B.C. has public input to drug funding with a program called Your Voice

health.gov.bc.ca/pharmacare...

Prior to this level, pCODR the pan Canadian Oncology Drug Review, accepts input from interested patient based advocacy groups...

pcodr.ca/idc/groups/pcodr/d...

[PaulaS Volunteer]

Beautiful spoonbill. Certainly in a reflective pose