Annual Health Debate

Bupa, the UK's largest private health insurance provider host a yearly health debate. The theme of this year's debate is:

Patients, prices and patents - Is there a cure for the world's drug problem?

The health debate will be held on the 25th March at 11.30 GMT. It will be hosted live via podcast which means that anyone can watch via the internet. Additionally anyone can post a question in advance for the panel to answer.

The speakers this year are representative of the different aspects of this very important debate: Simon Jose from GSK Pharmaceuticals, Professor Sir Michael Rawlins Chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), Dr Mohga M Kamal-Yanni from Oxfam GB and Professor Thomas Pogge, philosopher and health researcher from Yale University.

Breakthroughs in the drugs available to treat many serious medical conditions are being made all the time. However, many medications are very expensive. This is not only an issue for the NHS but also for private medical insurance companies.

The NHS have a list of drugs that practitioners are free to prescribe from but in many areas of the country this does not include the more expensive drugs which may help many sufferers to gain their health back. It is possible for patients to 'top-up' and pay for the shortfall in costs between what the NHS allows and the actual cost of the more expensive drugs. However this still leaves a large number of people who will be unable to afford this. The media has reported many cases of patients battling with their Primary Healthcare Trusts in order to obtain the drugs they need.

In the UK Herceptin, a drug used for breast cancer, can cost up to £40,000 and Avastin, used to treat lung cancer, can cost up to £60,000 for a course of treatment. With cancer on the increase, it is easy to see why private health insurance companies are also concerned about how they can continue to provide the best medical cover and still remain in business.

Many calls have been made from all interested parties for pharmaceutical companies to drop the cost of their drugs. Their argument is that they need to recoup the costs of their research and drug development programmes and that the only way to fund further research is to charge high prices.

When it comes to the third world the problems related to drug costs are on a much larger scale and the problems are not just about costs but also about the management of health education and disease. According to Bupa,:

'At the end of 2007, an estimated 3 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral HIV therapy, up from 2 million in 2006. But for every person who gained access to HIV treatment in 2007, more than two people became infected. '

It will be interesting to watch Bupa's Annual Health Debate and if you don't get a chance to do this yourself, Health Insurance News UK will keep you informed of all the major points from the event.