US adds Canada to intellectual property watch list, now at same level as China, due to the Canada's cheaper generic pharmaceuticals.

I'm a Canadian too, but I live down here. Since going to a doctor is a much bigger deal than in Canada, my behavior has changed. I try not to go at all, and if I do have to go, I feel like I should have some idea what the problem is. I do a lot more of my own medical diagnoses-- not a great idea, but I don't want to pay a few hundred dollars to get a diagnosis of "migraines, take more Tylenol." Hopefully, this never bites me in the ass, but... well, it took convincing from my friends to actually go to see someone when I got a dog bite, because I had no idea how much it would cost. In Canada, it wouldn't have been a question. Prevention is less expensive than cure, but humans are terrible at estimating risk...

Anyways. Now look at the advertising. You get a lot of ads that describe the disease (honestly, a little worse than using Dr Google). If I have some idea that something is wrong with me, I might be influenced by those ads to now think this specifically is what's wrong with me. If I go get this prescription, I can get in and out and not have to go back to a doctor for expensive testing and so on.

It's quite insidious, and all part of the broken system down here.

/r/worldnews Thread Parent Link - reuters.com