The Shut Down

clipped from www.qando.net As we head toward government health care, I continue to keep a wary eye on the systems presently funcitoning in other countries - like the UK's NHS. You pick up little nuggets like this: The NHS already restricts access to expensive new drugs that could benefit older age groups — such as sufferers of Alzheimer's and macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness — amid fears that the costs could cripple the health service. Why is that important, besides the obvious fact that government is restricting treatment due to cost to 'it'? The fact that the reason these "expensive new drugs" are available is because there is a system out there in which there is the incentive to develop them. Yes, it is that "horribly expensive" American system, where drug companies are known as Big Pharma and considered to be evil by a certain class. But what happens if that particular engine of innovation is essentially shut down?