How much is a medical miracle really worth? This is one of the biggest challenges drug and insurance companies are facing as modern medicine continues to advance. Insurers aren’t disputing the “worth of cures;” however, they do say they aren’t equipped to pay one large sum up front. Insurers are “used to paying rent for health, and we’re asking them to buy a houseful of cure,” says Mark Trusheim, a visiting scientist at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
There are many different ideas being explored as far as how to handle high one-time or up-front costs including payments similar to annuities, money-back guarantees, “value-based pricing” which is already being used in Europe, radical payment plans, or even government grants or prizes to developers of cures. For more on these plans under consideration visit this Bloomberg article and please share your thoughts with us.
Surely with advanced medical modelling, software and innovative production techniques – such as 3D printing – we should see the cost of developing new treatments and devices become cheaper, which should, in turn, lead to more creative solutions and ultimately lower prices being paid by both providers and users of health care.