The Supreme Court Decision and GSK; Which Way Will We Go?

It was fun to watch the cable news channels trip over themselves as they initially incorrectly reported the outcome of the Supreme Court decision last week. In their quest to report first- they reported wrong. Such is the price we have to pay when we want the news instantaneously. We’re going to need to be even more cautious when we’re determining what to believe; especially when it comes to deciding what to believe about health care.


Since the decision was made- the pundits have been trying to figure out what it really means. For all practical purposes, the guts of the law were upheld. It’s just that what things are called, and how things will work are going to change pretty substantially.

Even with the decision finally made, the health care debate is going to continue. The country is still divided on it view of the law. But the intensity of the division has intensified. The rhetoric behind the discussion will get even uglier than before. Just like we should have learned as the cable channels first reported the decision, what is reported will not necessarily be the truth.

The fundamental question we will continue to grapple with is this: how much should the government organize the health care mess we have created this country versus how much can we really rely on the “free market” in its ability to fix it.

Today, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) agreed to a $3 billion settlement essentially resulting from health care fraud. The company was selling pharmaceuticals to markets where the drugs were not intended, and for conditions that had not been tested. The general public was exposed to some very substantial risks. But the GSK sales folks, some physicians, and others made a lot of money in the process; just following the American Dream. The GSK annual report states the ultimate aim of GSK’s business strategy is “to deliver sustainable improved long-term value and returns to shareholders.” There is no mention of delivering quality products at an affordable price to their customers. These companies are big, and the focus is financial. In an article about the fraud for Forbes Mathew Harper writes, “Criminal fines for giant drug companies, no matter how big, are less a deterrent than a cost of doing business.”

The free market left on its own can be dangerous.

So, we are still left to decide between a bloated and expensive health care law generally administered by the federal government that few understand and many people still don’t like, and uncertainty as to whether it will work, and a free market approach that continuously struggles to put the patient, the individual, ahead of profits.

I’ve said all along the answer is somewhere in-between. We just don’t have the right leaders in place to put a middle-ground approach together. The debate will continue.