> Government picks generic drug that works for most people and has no incentive to worry about the 5% - 10% of people it doesn't work for. Oh, well
Generally, this isn't true either. Government picks generic drugs, because it frees up the most amount of money for them to treat other people with.
But if the government covers medications and there's a real medical reason to need a name brand drug over a generic, they'll usually prescribe you the name brand one automatically. Here's a list of that happening in the UK, for example - http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Medicinesinfo/Pages/Brandnamesa...
And of course, as always, your still welcome to buy any name brand drug yourself, if you like.
No, Nearly every single payer system allows you to purchase extra health care, over and beyond what the single payer system provides.
In Canada, as just one example, this is sometimes called "supplementary health insurance". See https://on.bluecross.ca/health-insurance/health-insurance-10... for an example
> Government picks generic drug that works for most people and has no incentive to worry about the 5% - 10% of people it doesn't work for. Oh, well
Generally, this isn't true either. Government picks generic drugs, because it frees up the most amount of money for them to treat other people with.
But if the government covers medications and there's a real medical reason to need a name brand drug over a generic, they'll usually prescribe you the name brand one automatically. Here's a list of that happening in the UK, for example - http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Medicinesinfo/Pages/Brandnamesa...
And of course, as always, your still welcome to buy any name brand drug yourself, if you like.