Obamacare may have impact on research
I read in the Wall Street Journal about the research for a bionic eye where they spent many millions of dollars to tackle engineering challenges that confront this goal. One such approach is known as a retinal prosthesis that bypasses the dead or damaged cells in the eye needed to detect light. They are only waiting for approval by the Food and Drug Administration to market it here. This device is already available in Europe.
When Obamacare is fully implemented, any such difficult research here will be dependent on politicians and federal bureaucrats. If the company happens to hire the wrong lobbyist or cannot convince the bureaucracy, we very well may become the loser. No longer will private firms be willing to invest their own profit and gamble on developing new or better medical devices.
When Europe implemented socialized medicine they in effect caused the majority of drug research to migrate to the USA. Instead of European countries being equal partners in paying off the cost of research for these drugs simple established a price they would be willing to pay. This resulted in the United States health care system absorbing their share of the costs by paying even higher prices for the same drugs.
What firm will be willing to gamble their profit in the future to develop better drugs or medical devices?
William R. Hadley
Yuma
