Dr. Gary Null provides a commentary on "Universal Healthcare" Universal Healthcare is the Solution to a Broken Medical System Gary Null, PhDProgressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For over 50 years, there has been no concerted or successful effort to bring down medical costs in the American healthcare system. Nor are the federal health agencies making disease prevention a priority. Regardless whether the political left or right sponsors proposals for reform, such measures are repeatedly defeated by both parties in Congress. As a result, the nation’s healthcare system remains one of the most expensive and least efficient in the developed world. For the past 30 years, medical bills contributing to personal debt regularly rank among the top three causes of personal bankruptcy. This is a reality that reflects not only the financial strain on ordinary Americans but the systemic failure of the healthcare system itself.The urgent question is: If President Trump and his administration are truly seeking to reduce the nation's $36 trillion deficit, why is there no serious effort to reform the most bloated and corrupt sector of the economy? A key obstacle is the widespread misinformation campaign that falsely claims universal health care would cost an additional $2 trillion annually and further balloon the national debt. However, a more honest assessment reveals the opposite. If the US adopted a universal single-payer system, the nation could actually save up to $20 trillion over the next 10 years rather than add to the deficit. Even with the most ambitious efforts by people like Elon Musk to rein in federal spending or optimize government efficiency, the estimated savings would only amount to $500 billion. This is only a fraction of what could be achieved through comprehensive healthcare reform alone.Healthcare is the largest single expenditure of the federal budget. A careful examination of where the $5 trillion spent annually on healthcare actually goes reveals massive systemic fraud and inefficiency. Aside from emergency medicine, which accounts for only 10-12 percent of total healthcare expenditures, the bulk of this spending does not deliver better health outcomes nor reduce trends in physical and mental illness. Applying Ockham's Razor, the principle that the simplest solution is often the best, the obvious conclusion is that America's astronomical healthcare costs are the direct result of price gouging on an unimaginable scale. For example, in most small businesses, profit margins range between 1.6 and 2.5 percent, such as in grocery retail. Yet the pharmaceutical industrial complex routinely operates on markup rates as high as 150,000 percent for many prescription drugs. The chart below highlights the astronomical gap between the retail price of some top-selling patented pharmaceutical medications and their generic equivalents.Drug Condition Patent Price (per unit) Generic Price Estimated Manufacture Cost Markup SourceInsulin (Humalog) Diabetes $300 $30 $3 10,000% Rand (2021)EpiPen Allergic reactions $600 $30 $10 6,000% BMJ (2022)Daraprim Toxoplasmosis $750/pill $2 $0.50 150,000% JAMA (2019)Harvoni Hepatitis C $94,500 (12 weeks) $30,000 $200 47,000% WHO Report (2018)Lipitor Cholesterol $150 $10 $0.50 29,900% Health Affairs (2020)Xarelto Blood Thinner $450 $25 $1.50 30,000% NEJM (2020)Abilify Schizophrenia $800 (30 tablets) $15 $2 39,900% AJMC (2019)Revlimid Cancer $16,000/mo $450 $150 10,500% Kaiser Health News (2021)Humira Arthritis $2,984/dose $400 $50 5,868% Rand (2021)Sovaldi Hepatitis C $1,000/pill $10 $2 49,900% JAMA (2021)Xolair Asthma $2,400/dose $300 $50 4,800% NEJM (2020)Gleevec Leukemia $10,000/mo $350 $200 4,900% Harvard Public Health Review (2020)OxyContin Pain Relief $600 (30 tablets) $15 $0.50 119,900% BMJ (2022)Remdesivir Covid-19 $3,120 (5 doses) N/A $10 31,100% The Lancet (2020) The corruption extends far beyond price gouging. Many pharmaceutical companies convince federal health agencies to
