The battle continues in Washington over health care reform, as light is shed on possible unethical moves in favor of the drug companies' bottom line – profits. On Monday, a New York Times article, "Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform," written by Duff Wilson, opened the eyes of the public and the government to a potentially shady move on the part of the pharmaceutical companies. Yesterday, a handful of Democrats called for a government investigation into this year's name-brand drug price hikes while they continue developing and pushing for health care reform, according to Wilson.
Drug companies and health care reform
On the seventh of November a number of cost-cutting provisions were passed by the House. The intent of these provisions is to cut overall drug spending by about $14 billion a year. The drug companies had agreed to help this effort by giving out rebates to the government and the elderly worth $8 billion a year, with expectations of an $80 billion reduction over ten years. This sounds like a positive effort on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry.
Are drug companies raising prices artificially?
Democrats have asked for an investigation to find out if the drug companies may be increasing prices unnecessarily. Several professors and economic experts have agreed that the drug companies shot up prices over the past year by about 9%, with a focus on name-brand drugs, which account for about 78% of prescription drug spending. Keep in mind that with drug patents, there can be no price competition for generic drugs, leaving the public dependent on expensive, possibly over-priced name-brand drugs. The price increases would completely offset the savings for the first year of health care reform, and potentially skew the entire plan to reduce government spending by cutting costs. Basically, where costs are reduced on one hand, price increases would ultimately increase costs on the other.
Drug companies claim that the price increases are justified. The investigation will hopefully discover if the price hikes are just to keep up profits after legislation is passed, a case of future cost containment.
Is there an alternative to prescription drug medications?
The way prescription drugs work, a dependency is created between the patient and the medication. Drugs generally work by covering up symptoms, and are in many cases very helpful, but they do not address the root of the reason for the illness, and they do not heal. People take prescription drugs for asthma, depression, anxiety,indigestion, high-cholesterol, sometimes taking multiple pills on a daily basis, spending thousands a year, even with health insurance. Although there are certainly circumstances which would make conventional medication necessary, there are also many circumstances where the drugs are not the wisest and most effective solution to the problem. There may be a way to dramatically reduce government spending on health care, that has nothing to do with negotiating with drug companies, but with expanding the public's and the health community's knowledge base of alternative medicines. This is the answer to cut dependency and put health in the hands of the people.
--
The Best Blog on the Web
http://hiphopcss.com/
hiphopcss LIVE!! "The Blog"
http://hiphopcsslive.blogspot.com/
Blog Talk Radio "The Shop"
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Profile.aspx?userurl=HipHop-Culture-Shock
No comments:
Post a Comment