Does copayment for drugs like Avastin constitute an irrational choice?
Unity makes a few arguments on this subject. First, he notes that Avastin does not ‘cure’ cancer: “Neither of these drugs is a ‘cure’ for cancer, indeed neither one of them will even put the cancers they target into remission. Their sole and only purpose is to delay the spread of secondary cancers that will, inevitably, lead to the death of the patient no matter what.” This isn’t particularly significant. A great many treatments do not prevent but merely delay death. Above the age of seventy-five mortality is not considered ‘amenable to healthcare’, for example. I don’t mean to be trite but, ultimately, everyone dies. All medical science is a stall that can, at best, delay someone’s death by a reasonable amount of time and ideally make it that another condition administers the coup de grace. Unity then discusses various evidence that makes clear that the results of these drugs are highly uncertain. That is probably true. That uncertainty clearly makes the expected increase in longevity
