The worlds impending 12 trillion drug bill in two charts

[InRareForm]

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/07/the-worlds-impending-12-trillion-drug-bill-in-two-charts/259746/

[boutons_deux]

Just another reason why America is fucked and unfuckable.

BigPharma marketing and docs have seduced people into believing health comes from pills.

eg, prescriptions per Medicare pill popper:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/563761.html

Just one of the many ways Human-Americans are bled dry by vampire-squid sick care system.

[cantthinkofanything]

BigPharma marketing and docs have seduced people into believing health comes from pills.



I'll agree with you 100% on that one. They're also trying to put the kibosh on natural treatments so they make sure they get all human Americans money.

[boutons_deux]

The New Drugging of America

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-duncan/prescription-drug-addiction_b_1621484.html

Insurers Pay Big Markups as Doctors Dispense Drugs

But doctor-dispensed drugs can undergo an “average wholesale price” makeover. It happens when firms that supply doctors with medications buy them in bulk from wholesalers and repackage them for office sale. These “repackagers” can set a new “average wholesale price,” one that is often many times higher than the original.

For example, in 2010, a physician associated with the Spine Center, Dr. Loev’s practice in Maryland, gave a patient a prescription for 360 patches containing a pain-numbing drug, lidocaine. The worker’s insurer was charged $7,304, according to a copy of that bill provided to The New York Times by a lawyer, Michael S. Levin, who represents insurance companies.

A similar number of patches dispensed by a doctor in California, which changed its regulations in 2007, is about $4,068, according to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute, a research group.

Warren G. Moseley, the president of a company in Tulsa, Okla., Physicians Total Care, that repackages drugs for office sale by doctors, said it charged physicians $2,863 for 360 patches.

Dr. Loev, who uses Automated HealthCare’s services, declined to be interviewed and did not respond to specific written questions from The Times.

Dr. Charles Thorne, a principal at Multi-Specialty HealthCare, another Maryland-based chain of clinics that dispenses drugs, also declined to be interviewed.

Dr. Zimmerman, the co-founder of Automated HealthCare, said that drug prices are set by companies that repackage medications for office sales.

He added that Automated HealthCare referred doctors to about a dozen repackagers. But the company has a relationship with one repackaging company called Quality Care Products, based in the Midwest. The two firms have exhibited their services together and jointly sponsor a charity golf tournament.

he found it extraordinary that lawmakers in other states like Florida and Maryland were allowing such drug markups to continue.

“I see it as corruption,” he said. “I think it is horrible.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/business/some-physicians-making-millions-selling-drugs.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print