i just picked up my prescriptions ( i have insurance!!!) they cost over $600!! i work in health care around doctors and know they are constantly going on trips (paid by the drug companies) and taken to expensive restaurants, given gifts and other perks. i also know the cost of these medications are cheaper in other countries and am dumbfounded as to why we have to pay so much, esp when we have insurance. i am more than willing to start complaining to someone in government (yet i'm sure that's pointless) but have no clue where to start. any ideas??
2006-10-27 07:06:10 · 10 answers · asked by bella36 5 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
have to add this due to one of the answers i rec'd. am fully aware of "rigorous" FDA testing....this is why so many new drugs are pulled within a year and class action suits are filed due to them realizing "oops...we didn't realize it was gonna kill your liver"... don't kid yourself...the american drug companies are in it for the money .... not the "best healthcare in the world.
2006-10-27 07:39:42 · update #1
The BEST place to start is with Special Interest groups. There are a TON who are working on this same issue, and since you're involved in the health care profession they could probably use your expertise.
Look for your local office of PIRG, they do a lot of work in this area. And if they couldn't use you particularly, they could definitely tell you the names of many other special interest groups who are directly involved in your cause.
(PIRG is Public Interest Research Group, non partisan, just works for good stuff that is, duh, in the Public Interest.)
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One, writing letters doesn't do much. It used to, but nowadays those letters usually get read by student interns who send them back with prewritten, presigned drivel that was written broadly about the issue you're complaining about.
The BEST way to actually change things isn't by working as one unaffiliated person, but as one of MANY people, organized, working together towards a goal.
2006-10-27 07:17:03 · answer #1 · answered by feistycharley 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What you are not considering is (a) the massive costs in research and production for drugs, (b) the many years it takes to get a drug on the market (15-20 years). Also, drugs are cheaper elsewhere because they often do not have the strict standards of the FDA (i.e., it's cheaper to make them available to the public) but are they as safe?
I also suspect that your insurance must be poor if it sticks you with that kind of bill. More details would help.
Also, in "reining in" drug companies, have you considered the massive amount of good that they do? That they prolong people's lives in ways unimaginable years ago? That they help people live with all sorts of illnesses and diseases? Perhaps because you can't quantify the good they do is why you don't give them any credit?
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Bella, what's wrong with a drug company being "in it for the money"? Without money, the company will quickly die, and so will many Americans who could benefit from their medications.
Do you work for a living? Aren't you "in it for the money" (among other things) ? Or do you work for free?
2006-10-27 07:16:04 · answer #2 · answered by C = JD 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
This is what we need...rebellion! I wish you the best of luck.
David and Goliath, only David shrank to the size of a pea, and Goliath can lift the Milky Way with one finger.
Or you can join the procession heading to Canada to get cheaper meds, as the companies are actually regulated there!
In reply to the free market comment: you cannot establish free market rules on a product that is required for helping you live. It's not like you can choose to not buy that product. You have to. That is where your free market breaks down, and that is why we need government regulation in a few choice areas.
2006-10-27 07:14:55 · answer #3 · answered by powhound 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
This is capitalism. The drug companies spend billions on R&D, would you rather they not do so? Why do you think we have the best medical care in the world right here in the good old USA?
Oh, and BTW...I'm all for the pharmecutical companies making a profit, helps that portion of my portfolio which is aimed at the health care industry.
2006-10-27 07:20:25 · answer #4 · answered by Sheik Yerbouti 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You can't do it alone. But if we all stopped complaining so much and taking a pill for every ache and pain, then maybe. If we learned to take better care of ourselves; let our bodies heal themselves; and learn about different plants and minerals that we may use to make our own treatments, then maybe. Maybe demand would drop to the point that prices would have to fall as well.
2006-10-27 07:37:54 · answer #5 · answered by Tom Jr 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
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2016-12-08 22:33:11 · answer #6 · answered by zagel 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
more people need to complain
start with your state senators and congressmen, email the president, vice president
if more people did this they" the government " would get the idea and start doing something about drug overcharging
If they don't respond, vot their butts out of office
2006-10-27 07:16:43 · answer #7 · answered by Pobept 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
if you work in the health care field, you know that a drug can cost several million dollars in research before it ever even reaches trials. then there are the costs of getting it to market. then there are all the lawsuits by people who think that life should have no hurdles. so the drug companies charge so much in order to recoup the costs of the drugs
2006-10-27 07:15:41 · answer #8 · answered by kapute2 5 · 1⤊ 4⤋
What are you against capitalism and the free market?
2006-10-27 07:13:36 · answer #9 · answered by Captin Trips 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
dump the gop...............drug dealers
2006-10-27 07:20:08 · answer #10 · answered by cork 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋