[Joe_October]

...Can you show me the facts? I'm not at all convinced that the availability of drugs does anything more than defer surgery until a later time. ....

You are kidding, right? Without high blood pressure medicine, you have stroke or heart attack. Without antibiotics, you get sicker. I, myself, avoided expensive surgery with a few dollars worth of pain medicine (but that is anecdotal).

Next time your family is at the doctor be sure to tell the doctor you don't want medicine. You'll just wait until you have to go to the emergency room.

Please, some things are just too obvious. Prescription medicine is cheaper than other medical care.

You could ask will reducing the price be better than charging the full amount. That's a fair question and I think the answer is that it will cost some. But the benefit of getting competition into the system will offset that cost.

[NittanyLion]

You are kidding, right? Without high blood pressure medicine, you have stroke or heart attack. Without antibiotics, you get sicker. I, myself, avoided expensive surgery with a few dollars worth of pain medicine (but that is anecdotal).

Will the high blood pressure meds prevent a stroke or heart attack from ever occurring? Or will it delay the incident?

I don't argue that medicine is a wonderful thing for improving the quality and length of one's life. But if you're going to cite Rx drugs as saving hospitalization costs down the road, all I'm asking for is your proof. Should be easy to provide, if the case is as clearcut as you state. Right?