Between the barrage of commentary from pundits and promises from politicians, we have heard almost nothing about the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past fifty years I have lived and worked in the UK, France, Singapore, Japan and Australia, and all these countries have workable medical systems which putter along fairly seamlessly and provide reasonable levels of health care for all their citizens. Drugs are also reasonably priced and affordable. Here in the US it's a pharmacological nightmare with the large companies and the health care insurers and the politicians in bed with them, gouging the public and getting away with it. A tube of Voltaren Gel in Australia and Canada costs on average $12 and you buy it over the counter. Here you need a prescription and are charged $48. One month's supply of Xaralto, my wife's anti-cancer drug, costs her $149 with insurance and $499 without. When her son was dying of cancer the drug he was treated with cost $2000 per shot because it had not been approved by the FDA. Isn't it time we put in place a system of medical treatment which is fair, reasonable and affordable like other industrialized countries?