Democratic Underground Forums - Is Kerry's Health = Plan a Joke?

From: Subject: Democratic Underground Forums - Is Kerry's Health Plan a Joke? Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:07:03 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0034_01C48F4A.A4E61330"; type="text/html" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0034_01C48F4A.A4E61330 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2289709 Democratic Underground Forums - Is Kerry's Health = Plan a Joke?

Is Kerry's Health Plan a = Joke?
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ulTRAX=20 (824 posts)	Tue Aug-31-04 11:06 AM Original = message
Is = Kerry's Health=20 Plan a Joke?

Here's an outline of a key area = of Kerry's=20 "plan" to reform health care from http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care=20 /:

"Provide Affordable Prescriptions
The=20 Kerry-Edwards plan will reduce prescription drug = prices by=20 allowing the re-importation of safe prescription drugs = from=20 Canada, overhauling the Medicare drug plan, ensuring = low-cost=20 drugs, and ending artificial barriers to generic drug=20 competition."

That's Kerry's plan? It's = cowardly in the=20 extreme.

If we were in a total war against an = enemy...=20 as we were in WWII, there'd be great efforts made to = wring=20 waste out of the system. Yet we are in war against = disease,=20 suffering and early death and we tolerate a business = model=20 that is dysfunctional at best and criminally wasteful = at=20 worst. Who pays the price? We do.

The US=20 pharmaceutical industry claims it NEEDS high drug = prices=20 because of the high cost of R&D. A representative = of Phrma=20 was on Fresh Air last week. She stated, and I hope I = have=20 these number right, that the drug companies spend some = 25=20 BILLION a year on promotion and about 36 Billion on = R&D.=20 We already know that 25 BILLION is not spent on = R&D. Just=20 how much of that 36 BILLION is going into new drugs?=20

According to Public Citizen.... "Drug industry = R&D=20 is made less risky by the fact that only about 22 = percent of=20 the new drugs brought to market in the last two = decades were=20 innovative drugs that represented important = therapeutic gains=20 over existing drugs. Most were "me-too" drugs, which = often=20 replicate existing successful drugs." Source:
http://www.citizen.org/congress/campaign/special_interest= /articles.cfm?ID=3D6538=20

We saw this strategy when Prilosec was coming = off=20 patent. Rather than put resources into developing = drugs to=20 treat new diseases... AstraZenaca poured resources = into=20 protecting a cash cow. Expensive clinical trials were = rigged=20 to compare higher doses of Nexium against Prilosec to = find=20 some way to justify the new drug. A huge $500 million = dollar=20 advertising campaign was launched to get consumers to = switch=20 to Nexium... a drug with few if any new therapeutic = benefits.=20 Clinical trials were rigged to find some difference = between=20 Prilosec and Nexium. Here's a damning expose on a few = well=20 known drugs such as Nexium, Vioxx, Claritin: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/481198_print=20

The industry has proven itself more innovative = in=20 finding ways to perpetuate patents on lucrative drugs = than=20 finding new drugs.

"Over the past two decades = the=20 pharmaceutical industry has moved very far from its = original=20 high purpose of discovering and producing useful new = drugs.=20 Now primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of = dubious=20 benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to = co-opt=20 every institution that might stand in its way, = including the=20 US Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and = the=20 medical profession itself. (Most of its marketing = efforts are=20 focused on influencing doctors, since they must write = the=20 prescriptions.)" http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244=20

Given the depth of the dysfunctionality in the = pharmaceutical industry and how it affects us all, = what is=20 Kerry's plan? To permit drug reimportation?=20 =

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