The role of the doctor: to care for patients. In today’s pharma culture, that means taking a pill. But the billions spent on new drugs, new pills, and new therapies are absolutely, positively, 100% useless if patients cannot afford them. And a University of Michigan study proves the point : diabetes patients with high prescription drug costs simply did not buy their medications. When it’s between paying the heat bill during a Michigan winter or buying your diabetes meds, which are you going to choose?

If tomorrow a pill came out that cured all illness, all disease, but cost $5 million a pop, how effective is it truly? In pharmacology, drugs are noted for their effectiveness (how much of a drug is required to get a certain level of response in a person), but the most effective drug will remain largely ineffective if other factors–financial, cultural, religious, political–impede the population’s access to the drug.

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