The Issues - High Drug Prices Are Killing Americans

[rhett o rick]

The Issues - High Drug Prices Are Killing Americans

Posted by Bernie Sanders 8/29/15 - Bounce for Bernie

All across the country, Americans are finding that the prices of the prescription drugs they need are soaring. Tragically, doctors tell us that many of their patients can no longer afford their medicine. As a result, some get sicker. Others die.

Americans pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world -- by far. Drug costs increased 12.6 percent last year, more than double the rise in overall medical costs. (Inflation in this country was 0.8 percent that year.)

Americans should not have to live in fear that they will go bankrupt if they get sick. People should not have to go without the medication they need just because their elected officials aren't willing to challenge the drug lobby. The public is fed up, and they have a right to be fed up. It is time we joined the rest of the industrialized world -- not only by enacting a national health care program, but by implementing prescription-drug policies that work for everybody, not just the CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry.

If the ACA was the “first step” it's past time for the second step.

Read the article for Senator Sanders specific recommendations to fight the high cost of drugs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernie-sanders/high-drug-prices-are-kill_b_8059526.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

[beam me up scottie]

1. I remember when Bernie bussed seniors up to Canada to get their prescriptions filled.

He walks the walk.

Bargain Drug Prices Spark Border Crossings
Health care: U.S. seniors travel to Canada by the busloads for deals. And their doctors are helping them.

Chartered bus trips that began about a year ago in Vermont have inspired imitation in Western border states, even turning into campaign events in two U.S. Senate races this fall. Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton took a busload of elderly drug buyers to Canada and won. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, also a Democrat, did the same but lost. After Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) became the first member of Congress to host a bus trip last year, several of his colleagues followed suit.

As if they were three nations negotiating a trade treaty, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are forming a buying co-op to bring cheaper pharmaceuticals to their elderly residents. Some doctors in U.S. border communities have obtained licenses allowing them to prescribe directly to Canadian pharmacies. In towns such as Calais, Maine, patients simply stroll across a bridge to New Brunswick to buy medication.

...

The drugs are cheaper in Canada because that country's system of socialized medicine tightly controls pharmaceutical costs. U.S. drug prices also are higher because of costly advertising campaigns, government lobbying and research and development expenses. Another factor is the favorable exchange rate for U.S. dollars in Canada that makes items less expensive there.

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/dec/04/news/mn-60970

Thank you for posting this, it's a pleasure to give it the first rec.

[BooScout]

2. The only wayto do that....

Is to have a single payer system like is done in Europe and then the negotiating power would be there....good luck getting that through a Republican congress.

[rhett o rick]

4. First step is to get the Conservative Wing of the Democratic Party to agree. nm

[BooScout]

5. Good luck with that too nt

[rhett o rick]

6. I appreciate your point of view here. Do you agree with what Sen Sanders is proposing? nm

[BooScout]

7. in principle yes...

However, the reality of the situation is this....because of lobbying it won't happen unless the American practice is done away with across the board, not just for drug companies. I don't see a Democratic or a Republican congress agreeing to do this. The practice is too embedded to get rid of it. I am not saying I in anyway support the practice, but many a politician has pledged to do away with it before and failed every single time.

With transparency of the pharmaceuticals, you can bet they would fight it tooth and nail all the way to the supreme court and likely they would be upheld under intellectual property rights.

The best way forward in the fight against the high costs of drugs is to move to a single payer system. The biggest problem with that again is going to be the lobbyists....as long as they are allowed to lobby congress, the insurance industry will pull all the stops out to prevent a single payer system. The reality is it is not likely to happen soon if in my lifetime.

As I said, good luck with it. It's a noble idea, but the reality is it more than likely is it's not going to happen. I myself am grateful I moved to the UK a decade ago with my Brit husband. I cannot tell you how much peace of mind it gives me to know that the healthcare and medicine I may need is always there for me. The reality of the UK system is a lot different than the US though. It's system was created long before the insurance industry could get a stranglehold on the system.

[rhett o rick]

8. Thanks for the response. I agree that single payer is the solution. We must continue to

hammer on that need. We can't relax because the task is too hard.

[BooScout]

9. nice conversation btw....

I wish all of them here could be this way.

[rhett o rick]

16. I agree. nm

[LWolf]

21. You nailed that one. nt

[Romulox]

11. The ACA was enacted with 100% Democratic votes. nt

[BooScout]

12. But they could not get a single payer system passed...

And therein lies the problem.

[Romulox]

13. But that makes your initial point nonsense: "good luck getting that through a Republican congress."

[BooScout]

14. The congress under the next president is expected to be republican...

Thus the term 'republican' congress....it's not nonsense, just reality....and the reality is compounded by the fact that we could not get a single payer system passed by a Democratic congress.

[Romulox]

15. It doesn't matter. The current system was installed with 100% Democratic votes. We own it. nt

[bornskeptic]

18. Actually, most European countries don't have a single-payer system.

The majority, do have a government-run healthcare system, which is completely different from single-payer. Single-payer is government provided insurance, but when the government runs the hospitals and clinics, there is no need for insurance. The only countries I know of in Europe with single-payer systems are Hungary and the Czech Republic. A number of European countries have mandatory non-governmental insurance, similar to the ACA. Those countries include, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and Netherlands. In that type of system, even though there are multiple insurers, the government can negotiate drug prices for all payers, public and private. That's what we need to do in this country, but, of course, it's impossible to do anything worthwhile while Republicans control Congress.

[BooScout]

19. I would dispute that...

The UK has single payer. Spain has single payer. Hungary has single payer. The Czech Republic has single payer. Norway has single payer. Italy has single payer. Sweden has single payer. Slovenia has single payer. Finland has single payer. Portugal has single payer and Cyprus has single payer.

I would suggest you look up how single payer is defined. Btw, I live in the UK.

[think]

3. It's sad Bernie must even say "We should penalize drug companies that commit fraud."

That should be a given and yet nothing is being done.

All the other proposals make sense as well. End "Pay to delay". Disgusting that big pharma can pay other companies to delay introducing generics.

Hopefully the other Democratic candidates will adopt Sanders' positions so Americans can afford the medication they need.

[rhett o rick]

20. Committing fraud is a matter of interpreting the laws. Those with money change our laws

so that what should be fraud, is legal. We need change as Obama so aptly put but then so quickly forgot.

[Zorra]

10. If Bernie is not elected POTUS, drug prices will skyrocket year after year, indefinitely.

There will be no one who will attempt to stem the tide of Americans dying because they cannot afford the medicine they need.

Neoliberals and republicans support big pharma, and work hard to ensure that the best interests and profit margins of big pharma are served to the greatest degree possible.

[rhett o rick]

17. The 1% doesn't wish us to die, they just don't care if we do. Profits are most important. nm