America’s pharmaceutical industry is a racket, and it’s bought and paid for any number of politicians and bureaucrats. From Charles Hugh Smith at oftwominds.com:
The rot within manifested by the pharmaceutical industry almost defies description.
The theme this week is The Rot Within.
The theme this week is The Rot Within.
America’s Pharmaceutical industry takes pride of place in this week’s theme of The Rot Within, as the industry has raised fraud, exploitation and collusion to systemic perfection.
What other industry can routinely kill hundreds of thousands of Americans and suffer no blowback? Only recently has the toll of needless deaths from the opioid pandemic finally roused a comatose corporate media and bought-and-paid-for, see-no-evil Congress to wonder if maybe there should be some limits placed on Big Pharma and its drug distributors.
What other industry can raise prices any time it wants because, well, it can?Longtime correspondent/physician J.F. recently submitted a chart of medication price increases (below)–nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual because we can price increases.
What other industry has such complete control over the federal government?Dr. J.F. reminded me that the law enacting Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage specifically prohibits the U.S. government from negotiating lower prices on the immense volume of medications it purchases through Medicare (not to mention the Medicaid and Veterans Administration programs).
J.F. also submitted this investigative report from CNN, The little red pill being pushed on the elderly.
Here’s the money-shot:
“The combination of two generic drugs that makes up Nuedexta — a cough suppressant and heart medication — was once available from specialty pharmacists willing to combine the ingredients for less than $1 a pill, according to a US Senate report on rising prescription drug prices. Now the FDA-approved medication costs as much as $12.60 a pill.”
If this isn’t fraud, exploitation and collusion, then what is it? Please don’t say “good old free-market capitalism,” because competition is nowhere in sight.
To continue reading: Fraud, Exploitation and Collusion: America’s Pharmaceutical Industry
