We need to make sure that access to a curative drug doesn't become a yardstick by which poverty is eventually measured. Doing so requires a shared commitment between innovators and the insurance plans that are harder pressed to offer these advances to the poor.
Interpretation
Access to essential medicines should not be determined by wealth, highlighting the need for both innovation and equitable insurance coverage.
In this quote, Scott Gottlieb emphasizes the importance of ensuring that access to life-saving medications is not dictated by one's financial status. He warns against treating the availability of curative drugs as a measure of poverty and advocates for collaboration between innovators in the pharmaceutical industry and insurance providers to ensure that these vital advancements reach those who are economically disadvantaged.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about healthcare policy at a community meeting.
Science offers the chance to cure debilitating and once-intractable disorders like hemophilia and sickle cell disease. But we need to make sure the ability to access these therapies, or the risk that someone can be locked out of them, doesn't widen gaps between the rich and poor.
It is true that some off-label drug use is based on very unsettled science and has more risks. But medicine - and not just cancer care - involves lots of hard choices. And the more serious the disorder, often the more likely it is that for every right and wrong treatment choice there are many other practical decisions painted in shades of gray.
In fast moving fields like cancer, where doctors tailor treatments based on evidence that's constantly evolving, two years can be an eternity of waiting to learn about important science. For some patients, that interval can be fatal.
Some people who are obsessed with food become gourmet chefs. Others become eating disorders.
Your foods shall be your 'remedies,' and your 'remedies' shall be your foods.
Providing health care is like building a house. The task requires experts, expensive equipment and materials, and a huge amount of coordination.
Many of our problems in US maternity care stem from the fact that we leave no room for recognizing when nature is smarter than we are.
The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.
Children who grow up getting nutrition from plant foods rather than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer
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