I worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry for over 35 years. I know how the game is played.
Pharmaceutical Companies are always making small changes to their product, or its "delivery system" in order to keep their patents current. They also outright lie about the cost of development and manufacture of these minor changes.
It's a "for profit" industry and the patient is just a revenue stream. Besides, much of the money comes from medical insurance, or at least that is what the Pharma Industry would have you believe. So we have high drug prices to protect profit margins.
But then, these same medications routinely cost much less outside the United States.
So, what the f**k is up?
It's just plain Greed!
We, here in the United States are the patsy's that pay to maintain that greed.
Our healthcare system is broken. Only a complete overhaul of the whole industry can fix it.
For a start, Health Care Insurance Companies need to be non-profit, and so do hospitals.
The FDA must change the patent rules to insure that minor tweaks to a product do not extend the patent.
Doctors need to be more self-policing in regard to keeping up skills, reducing unnecessary testing and excessive prescriptions writing.
Look at how many opioid prescriptions are written each year, even though we have an epidemic of addition and death.
We need more out-patient facilities that charge hundreds instead of thousands of dollars a night for patient stays.
The list is endless, but the destruction of the health, both physical and economic, of the patients and their families has no end.
It's got to stop!
Patrick Phillips
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