It is outrageous that politicians interfere with Pharmac.
Pharmac are the experts. They are the Drs. We listen to them because they know the impacts and effects of policy on medicine. They fund what works, they fund for all of us.
The problem is the budgetary straightjacket Pharmac are locked into means they can’t expand to the new cancer treatments that are changing so many peoples lives.
Here’s how Labour should prosecute this honourably while highlighting the utter hypocrisy of Key over Herceptin. Get Pharmac to work out how much it will cost to make this new melanoma drug available and then pledge to match that. Forcing Pharmac to find the money in their existing budget is outrageous, agreeing to pick up the tab because that’s the decent thing to do for NZers blighted by melanoma is the right way to interfere.
Labour have an opportunity to show how Government intervention can work while framing Key as out of touch.
Getting that narrative win won’t be easy. Fairfax ran a beautiful smear out of Coleman’s office that Little had had dinner with executives of the cancer drug.
Insinuating that dying cancer patients are in the pocket of big pharma is pretty gross even for Cameron Slater, but to have the mainstream media use it so Coleman’s Office can shift the heat away from their croaky Minister is ugly.
There was no internal division about Little meeting the company and the desperate spin being used to deflect attention is another example of how flat footed the Government have become when legitimately challenged. They don’t respond with any actual explanation of their policy, they just launch counter smears to attack Labour for daring to ask questions.
Meanwhile ordinary NZers who don’t have the wealth to buy the new drugs are dying.
What’s the use of Government if all it does is get a balanced budget? We can get an accountant to do that, this requires leadership and Key is simply not showing any.
What worries me however is that while Labour have done some great advocacy for melanoma sufferers, with new treatments for something which causes so much horrible and unnecessary death (often in healthy young people who should have had long lives ahead of them) is that now they’re meeting with pharmaceutical lobbyists. And I can’t help but wonder, were they just talking about Pharmac and the TPPA, or were they seeking Labour’s support on this big-pharma sponsored monstrosity?
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/legislation/bills/digests/49PLLawBD19271/natural-health-products-bill-2011-bills-digest-no-1927
BILLS CONUNDRUM
Bill: Do you want me to increase funding for Pharmac, or give out tax cuts? Pharmac says that if I increase funding by just 10%, it will save dozens of lives. Should I save lives, or keep my election year tax cut bribes? And bribes equals votes!…which is what we need!!…what I need!!! Crickey what a curly one. Come on, my puny little brain, please help me out again……think Bill…think! What would Jesus do…I mean what would Trump do…I mean what would Brash do…I mean what would Ruth do……this is getting complicated. Am I over egging it?
I will be remembered by the decision I make. I fluffed it, with my double dipping fiasco, so this time I have to make sure I get it right. I feel so alone on this……my boss is ignoring me, because his only priority, is his stupid flag idea, that’s tanking. What is more important, lives or votes? I pray for some guidance, oh holy one, please heed my call…
Smiling Assassin: Can people who have died of cancer vote?
Bill: No
Smiling Assassin: I think that answers your question!
Bill: But shouldn’t we do something?
Smiling Assassin: Send out some copies of Max’s debut CD. When I listened to it, the similarity to a strangled cat, sure made me want to give up living. That should do the trick!
Bill: ?
BILLS CONUNDRUM
Bill: Do you want me to increase funding for Pharmac, or give out tax cuts? Pharmac says that if I increase funding by just 10%, it will save dozens of lives. Should I save lives, or keep my election year tax cut bribes? And bribes equals votes!…which is what we need!!…what I need!!! Crickey what a curly one. Come on, my puny little brain, please help me out again……think Bill…think! What would Jesus do…I mean what would Trump do…I mean what would Brash do…I mean what would Ruth do……this is getting complicated. Am I over egging it?
I will be remembered by the decision I make. I fluffed it, with my double dipping fiasco, so this time I have to make sure I get it right. I feel so alone on this……my boss is ignoring me, because his only priority, is his stupid flag idea, that’s tanking. What is more important, lives or votes? I pray for some guidance, oh holy one, please heed my call…
Smiling Assassin: Can people who have died of cancer vote?
Bill: No
Smiling Assassin: I think that answers your question!
Bill: But shouldn’t we do something?
Smiling Assassin: Send out some copies of Max’s debut CD. When I listened to it, the similarity to a strangled cat, sure made me want to give up living. That should do the trick!
Bill: ?
So exactly what was discussed when Little Andy had dinner with the drug company lobbyists?
The weather?
Yes Andrew. They discussed the weather 🙂
Shilling for Labour ? How low will you Martin ?
Shill can’t even spell.
Moran
1 Keytruda will be made available, with huge fanfare by the Great Leader himself , praise be National care and work miracles!
2. A shell game in health will take place where the money used to fund it will be siphoned off from other areas of the health budget, doctors visits come to mind and from other government departments, because of Nationals incompetence with the economy, we’re too cash strapped to afford it anyway. Well that’s if National lavishing taxpayer funds bribing rich Saudis continues, accommodation supplements for overstretched investors trying to rent out their over priced houses, flags and the perennial favourite, motorways wasn’t taking place!.
3. National will continue to lie and smear and Coleman will continue to croak when he speaks.
4. Doctors will still recommend other cancer patients to go overseas if they can for treatment because this is only one of many shortcomings in our health system that the corporate media don’t report!
Better to have Keytruda than Keysflag.
Is that political, or pragmatic?
Assuming Keytruda actually works.
There are some questions over its performance
What credentials do you have mr Andrew that allows you to give medical advice?
Keytruda is not a cure for melanoma, which ‘fact’ is being touted by the masses. It helps support the immune system in approx. 25% of cases.
The politicking of this issue is at the expense of other illnesses that do have cures that are not being funded by Pharmac either, i.e. Hepatitis C which affects over 50,000 NZer’s and can now be cured. Is it not better to fund actual cures which are & will clog up the health services in the future? And yes, Hep C will turn into liver cancer among other nasty diseases if left.
I think that the fact that Pharma is meeting Andrew Little is indicative of the polling they are possibly doing or the reality has hit them that TTP may cause them way more problems on the left if they don’t schmooze. The problem with big Pharma is people like Martin Shkreli and the investors wanting stupid rates of return on investment.
I don’t think PHARMAC should be funding all these new expensive drugs as the success rates are low and as we are seeing with a large number of the new drugs, the trials are being fixed. Having said that I understand why people want the new wonder drug – dying is hard on everyone.
Meh – Pharmac purity doesn’t add up while Bill English is rorting $30 million out of them. If the UK and Oz fund Keytruda – our rockstar economy can too.
I think we have to leave it up to Pharmac to decide on funding priorities. Unfortunately this will be a zero sum game. Funding Keytruda means people with other illnesses will miss out.
Pharmac are experts at this balancing process. We need to protect their autonomy, so they aren’t hijacked by media/political bandwagons.
Andrew Little’s action is appalling, more so because of the Herceptin example he had. It sets a dangerous precedent. He deserves all the stick he’s getting for it.
I don’t see how “pledging to match” the funding could be honorable. All that amounts to is spin, like National’s pledge that medicine won’t go up under the TPPA.
I have been treated for Melanoma. What I would like to see is better initial screening and prevention. The melanoma I had removed was initially dismissed by my doctor, and it was pretty much by chance that I asked his Locum to look at it. It ended up costing me over $300 to get it removed. On a benefit.
Testing showed that it was a malignant melanoma. Then I went through the public health system and had a large chunk carved out of my leg which left a highly visible 8cm scar.
Better screening would have prevented that, and better screening would mean less need for Keytruda. I wish similar effort to the Keytruda had gone into advocating for screening.
The problem I have with Pharmac is that they seem to be duplicating research that has already happened overseas. As Stuart pointed out, other countries have already researched Keytruda, and fund it. I wonder whether that could be a delaying tactic.
The way that National has cut health spending in real terms fills me with despair. It’s a shame they don’t see health as the good investment that it is. Instead the want to spin bullshit budget surpluses.
It seems that Pharmac funding is like neoliberal Russian Roulette. Now that we’ve sold off most of the assets we used to fund social safety nets such as Health – Education -Welfare – Pharamac, the cupboard is bare of soul, caring and money.
So the short answer is “No, there’s no money, but we will soon be introducing Euthanasia legislation so you won’t have to suffer too long.”
Vanity diversion projects like the flag referendum have sucked up valuable resources and so now personal crowd-funding replaces Pharmac funding to address the social safety net shortfall.
Even National Parks land can only be ‘acquired’ via Give-a-little. What happens when that revenue stream dries up? Who will pay then? Chinese oligarchs? Movie oligarchs? Mining corporations like Anadarko?
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