The cost of drugs -

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today on the cost of the drug Avastin which is used to treat colon cancer, and, sometimes, breast cancer. The current cost is $100,000 a year. Some insurance policies are balking at the cost, and probably, rightly so. Sometimes it only increases life a few months. Other times, it is effective, but much of this is unproven. Now, that I am more closely connected with all of this, I think it is time for us all to pay some attention. Because the producers of Avastin are charging such a high price, the fear is that other companies will do the same. I will have my shot of Neulasta today. The shot costs $5000.00. I have eight of them. My insurance is covering the cost, but, what if they weren't? Steve and I had decided we would pay it out of pocket when we were unsure, but that was a fixed one-time cost of $40,000. What if we had to come up with $100,000 a year? Where does it stop? Perhaps money already decides who lives or dies, but it is becoming more and more obvious, more clear. I read in The World is Flat, that we are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to save the life of an American, but we won't spend a hundred dollars to save the life of certain people around the world. It is another moral issue we each have to wrestle with, another piece of how we divide this pie we all share.