Series: The French Healthcare System (2018) — Part 3/3
The collective psychological construct — perfect healthy bodies, confusion between care and superfluity — shapes our relationship to the healthcare system: the primacy of technology over economics. This progressivism, this refusal of death against which technological omnipotence is deployed, partly explains the galloping inflation of costs.
Gilead’s molecule revolutionised hepatitis C treatment — virus eradication in 99% of cases. But the cost is ~$75,000. The price is not conditioned by manufacturing cost but by health authority solvency — $300 in India, $75,000 in the USA.
Fourth age and dependency: Alzheimer’s will rise from 40 to 135 million cases between 2015 and 2050. Cancer prevalence up 70% in 20 years. Metabolic syndrome: 47% of US adults obese by 2030. Diabetes in France: €10B in 2014, 15% of national health insurance spending.
These socio-demographic shifts constitute major spending blocks whose weight will grow over the next 50 years. This is the analytical foundation of the PREDICARE programme.