[Ip-health] AP on Edwards' health plan

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/14/politics/p085407D53.DTL&type=politics

Edwards Lays Out Health Care Plan

By SVEN GUSTAFSON
Associated Press
Thursday, June 14, 2007


Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Thursday proposed
cutting health care costs by overhauling the patent process for
breakthrough drugs and requiring health insurance companies to spend at
least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care.

The former North Carolina senator offered details of a universal health
care proposal he released in February during an appearance at the East
Riverside Health Center, a federally funded community clinic.

Edwards' plan would offer cash payments in place of long-term patents
for companies that develop certain breakthrough drugs and then reap
large profits because of the monopolies those patents provide.

He said offering cash incentives instead would allow multiple companies
to produce generic and other versions of those drugs to drive down
prices. Campaign officials said the payments could be voluntary for drug
companies and would be aimed at spurring the development of drugs that
cure diseases.

"Dealing with the health care crisis is about more than just about
coverage," Edwards said. "Our health care system is entirely too
expensive. We put more money into health care than any country in the
industrialized world and we get one of the worst products out in the
other end."

He also said his plan would require health insurance companies to spend
at least 85 percent of the premiums they collect on patient care, adding
that 30 percent of insurance premiums currently go toward administrative
expenses and profit. He said New York, Minnesota, New Jersey, Florida
already impose similar requirements.

[snip]

--
Mike Palmedo
Research Coordinator
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property
American University, Washington College of Law
4910 Massachutsetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20016
T - 202-274-4442 | F 202-274-0659
mpalmedo@wcl.american.edu