AstraZeneca’s health care reform principles
The U.S. health care system leads the world in medical innovation. Strengths of the current system include high standards of care, many of the world’s most skilled physicians, access to new medicines and state-of-the-art technology. There is, however, considerable room for improvement. Our system suffers from high administrative costs, major health insurance coverage gaps and disparities in health quality. Health policy proposals must take care to preserve what is good about the current system while addressing its weaknesses.
As the national debate on the future of health care reform unfolds, it is our view that every American should have affordable health insurance and prescription drug coverage. It is imperative that health care reform:
- Promote market competition that leads to improved health outcomes;
- Ensure that patient safety is maintained and enhanced;
- Expand coverage for the uninsured;
- Foster and reward innovation and provides protection for intellectual property.
Market Competition Leading to Improved Health Outcomes
Health care reform must preserve and promote market-based principles. Market competition drives innovation that enhances patient outcomes and lowers system costs. Conversely, reform efforts that focus primarily on cost could ultimately harm patients by resulting in decreased choices for patients and physicians, delayed drug launches, increased waiting times for drugs and procedures, slower and higher-priced generic drug entry into the marketplace, and decreased research and development efforts.
Comprehensive health care reform must prioritize the needs of the individual patient and not focus solely on cost containment. Physicians – in consultation with their patients – are best suited to make treatment decisions, not government officials.
A strong emphasis on chronic disease management and prevention can help improve health outcomes while cutting long-term costs. Routine access to a physician and to preventive care could decrease the prevalence of chronic diseases that now claim up to 75 cents of every health care dollar spent in the United States. Furthermore, AstraZeneca believes that prescription medicines play a critical role in disease management and prevention. Studies show that newer medicines reduce hospital and other non-drug costs.
Maintaining and Enhancing Patient Safety
An efficient and well-resourced regulator is essential to delivering safe, effective medicines that can improve patient health. Health reform efforts must ensure the Food and Drug Administration has the necessary resources to bring medicines from the laboratory to the patient in a consistent, systematic way.
Comparative effectiveness research and the widespread implementation of interoperable health information technologies could enhance patient safety outcomes and assist in longer-term, system-wide cost reductions. The latest health product information should also be readily and widely available through existing channels for both patients – particularly those with low health literacy – and physicians in order to achieve better health care access and outcomes.
Expanded Coverage for the Uninsured
According to the 2008 U.S. Census estimates, approximately 47 million people in the United States are without health care coverage. While Medicare covers nearly all persons aged 65 and over and Medicaid covers the poor and indigent, the number of uninsured continues to rise. The consequences of health insurance coverage gaps for both patients and the overall public health system are profound. The Institute of Medicine currently estimates that 18,000 people die annually because they do not have health care coverage. Moreover, uninsured patients receive less preventive and primary care leading to more complex and expensive treatments.
AstraZeneca believes that every American should have affordable, comprehensive health insurance and prescription drug coverage. AstraZeneca fully supports market-based programs and employer-sponsored insurance as the foundation of health care coverage in the U.S., particularly for the non-elderly. At the same time, we recognize the important role that public programs play. We encourage efforts to increase access to market-based private healthcare coverage and availability of public sector programs, including the development and support of public-private partnerships.
As part of the overall health care solution, AstraZeneca strongly supports the continued successful implementation of Medicare Part D in its current form.
Reward Innovation and Provide Effective Intellectual Property Protection
The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most research-intensive and innovative industries in the world, investing as much as five times more in research and development, relative to sales, as other industries. Profitability is the engine of successful long-term biopharmaceutical innovation. The medicines created and marketed by the branded pharmaceutical industry generate the current and future generic drug pipeline.
The research and discovery of pharmaceuticals is a risky undertaking. Recent health economic studies indicate that it now takes between 12 to 15 years and nearly $1 billion to bring a new drug to market. About 1 in 10,000 compounds studied ever make it to market and only about 20 percent of those marketed realize enough profit to recapture their original research and launch costs. Without sufficient intellectual property protection, pharmaceutical companies would be unable to reinvest in new medicines for patients.
Conclusion
AstraZeneca believes that meaningful healthcare reform will require the development of a market-based system that maximizes patient choice and outcomes while minimizing system costs. Achieving positive change will require a public-private partnership driven by ideas – not ideologies – that focuses on bringing more life-saving medicines to market to make a meaningful difference in patient lives.
Together, we can build a stronger health care system in which more people are diagnosed and treated, fewer people are hospitalized, and medicines will be viewed as an investment, not a cost.
