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What is Fair? Choice, Fairness, and Transparency in Access to Prescription Medicines in the United States and Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Ruth Lopert  and
Sara Rosenbaum
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Extract

The role of government in assuring population access to affordable and appropriate health care represents a central question for any nation. Of particular concern is access to prescription drug coverage, not only because of the vital role played by drugs in modern medicine, but also because of their high costs. This article examines the sharply contrasting prescription drug coverage and payment policies found in Australia and the U.S. – strong political allies and international trading partners – and describes how key U.S. interests have sought, through an aggressive trade agenda, to expand markets for U.S. goods and services, even when market expansions clash with other nations’ contrasting emphasis on social equity and fairness. Indeed, the nation’s bilateral free trade negotiations have brought the contours of this policy schism into sharp relief.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , Winter 2007 , pp. 643 - 656
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2007

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