Let's tackle the second two points first:
#2 is rubbish. Total and complete rubbish.
No, it isn't. It is not in the interests of private business to turn customers away - this is the problem at the heart of privatised healthcare. Socialised medicine treats patients as a cost - it is in their interest to have as little dealing as possible. Private medicine treats patients as a profit centre, it is in their interest to keep you as long as possible.
I am constantly amazed at the constant bombardment of pills and treatments on US television. I can't remember the exact ad, but one of them was going on about "Indigestion Syndrome". (It wasn't indigestion, but something equally trivial, possibly acid reflux or something. Will try and Google for the ad.) The key word they used over and over was "syndrome". Like indigestion was an ongoing illness, that can be treated with a course of pills, which you keep taking to stop it happening again.
Second, look at Viagra - they were sponsoring NASCAR for crying out loud! "You need this product and you'll always need this product" - ads that are
exactly like the ads for hair colouring for men to hide grey hairs, and then Viagra to get it up, because if you don't take these pills, you are not a success.
Why can I get 500 Ibuprofen in the US for about ?5? Because they push it like a commodity. (And US drug costs aren't high - compared to high street UK, they are cheap! When I come back from the States, my luggage rattles with stuff like that. My wife and I stock up on Ibuprofen and it is enough for two years worth!)
#3 is incorrect with reference to the bills being discussed in the United States.
Really? Then point me to the text of the Bills being discussed, because I wasn't aware there was two healthcare fights going on.
As to #1, sure, the costs in the US are too high. At the same time, realize that if the US costs come down, European costs will by necessity have to rise.
Can you name one example of when US drugs costs came down that wasn't mandated by law?
The US prices have subsidized R&D while everyone else benefited. Tha absolutely MUST end and Western European nations must no longer be allowed to pay absurdly low prices while the cost of R&D is pushed onto America.
I'll ask again - if the European prices rise, why does that mean the US price
will come down? And can you please name one instance where this has happened. Because these are capitalist businesses and they aren't going to give away a dime if they don't have to.
I know I wouldn't!
And the cost of R&D - you appear to be word blind, because I already said I live near one of GlaxoSmithKlines biggest R&D campuses. Well, two, and they are a few miles apart in Cheshire, in the UK. (Used to be AstraZeneca.)
Those companies do not have to sell their drugs to the NHS. They
willingly sell at a lower price because they want to make money. The cost of the same tteatment in the US is so high because you are being price gouged, not because you are subsidising everyone else.