(image via article at CBS)

CBS News reports "If you have ever wondered why the cost of prescription drugs in the United States are the highest in the world or why it's illegal to import cheaper drugs from Canada or Mexico, you need look no further than the pharmaceutical lobby and its influence in Washington, D.C."

The ethics involved are very questionable, including former politicians pushing to pass a bill to benefit the pharmaceutical industry, and then just months later working as a lobbyist for, none other than, the pharmaceutical industry.

Lets say hypothetically these rising prices were legitimate, and not greed overpowering the social bottom line. In theory, this would mean the government is spending a significant amount in health subsidies, but according to the budget tables, they are only spending 9.52% on health. If that were sufficient, then fewer people would require further subsidies for other commodities - but social security and income security total more than triple what is spent on health.

Alternative Health Secrets poses several facts that make me question just how concerned the Health care industry is with their social bottom line. An article in the New York Times asks this very question, and finds that, in general, surgeons make the most money, while family and general practitioners make the least - but shouldn't that be the other way around? Preventative care, if only for its frequent necessity, should earn at least a little more. According to the article, yes "... the gastroenterologists and cardiologists have princely incomes," Dr. Roberts added, "while the non-procedural doctors, those using the trained brain, are typically paid at the same old rates."

I wonder how many med students nowadays plan their future career based on what they will earn rather than how they would want to help people. I wonder if there is anything significantly linked to the government that does not have a huge value rub. I wonder if we can ever turn this around.

Read on for a bit of a health roundup.

Chemotherapy Fog Is No Longer Ignored as Illusion - New York Times
"Chemo brain is part of the language now, and just to have it acknowledged makes a difference," said Anne Grant, 57, who owns a picture-framing business in New York City. Ms. Grant, who had high-dose chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant in 1995, said she could not concentrate well enough to read, garbled her sentences and struggled with simple decisions like which socks to wear.


Minky Viagra? Pfizer Doesn't Want You to Understand It, Just Buy It - New York Times
In the United States and Canada, drug companies can advertise medicines without discussing side effects, as long as they do not mention the condition the drug is supposed to treat. Such spots are called "reminder ads."

But Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, said the new Viagra ads are merely a reminder that drug companies will say anything, even if it is incomprehensible, to increase sales.

Individuals Pooling Money to Fight Local Diseases Worldwide
...many governments worldwide have scrambled to contain the disease, investing billions of dollars to prevent its entry into their borders. In the United States, the concern over containing a possible avian flu outbreak is so strong that in a recent prevention plan, the White House said it would consider blocking its border with Canada, its top trade partner, if an outbreak were to occur there.

In addition to working to contain global health threats, many countries and private individuals are also pooling their money and research expertise to fight local disease outbreaks as well.

GlobalEnvision - Huge Strides Made to Treat HIV in Sub-Saharan Region
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have dramatically improved access to HIV and AIDS treatment for citizens over the past three years, a United Nations report has found.

Welcome to Brynnistan - FYI: HPV Vaccine
A lot of folks I know are looking into getting Gardasil, Merck's partial HPV vaccine. Here's what I've been able to figure out about it, split by gender and age.

Sepia Mutiny
The big policy debate over water privatization seems to have ground to a halt. In poor countries, governments do a lousy job of getting water to their people (maybe 30% of Indians have access to clean water), and while de facto privatization proceeds apace, formal privatization schemes seem to have done poorly enough to reduce earlier corporate enthusiasm.