Health Care in America - Obama and Big Pharma - Strange Bedfellows

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The Broken American Health Care System - CPT Reprint

When he ran for office Obama pledged to get control of health care costs and the first thing he did was have his then Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel negotiate a multi billion dollar deal with big pharmaceutical companies to get their backing for his Obamacare health program.

Details of this deal have never been made public but he did get the support and money from big pharma to lobby and pass his health care program.  As profits continue to climb and costs continue to soar for prescription drugs in America let us look at how they have fared in selling their drugs under Obamacare.

Would you like to know what contributions you are making to drug companies in America? Here are the top 15 drug sales of prescription drugs for 2010 as reported by Bloomberg News.

As you will note, the drug is first, what it treats next, the annual sales in BILLIONS of dollars, and the percentage change over the previous year.  This does not include sales for livestock, fish and poultry use which can represent up to 70% of total antibody drug sales for big pharma, tens of billions more in revenues.

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Lipitor Topped Worldwide Drug Sales in 2010; Crestor Gains Most

1. Lipitor - High cholesterol - Pfizer - $10.7 - -6%

2. Plavix - Blood clot prevention - Bristol Myers - $9.43 - -4%

3. Remicade - Rheumatoid arthritis - J&J Merck & Co. - $7.99 - N/A

4. Advair - Asthma - GlaxoSmithKline - $7.94 - 2%

5. Enbrel - Rheumatoid arthritis - Amgen/Pfizer - $7.23 - N/A

6. Abilify- -Depression Bipolar Schizophrenia - Otsuka/Bristol-Myers - $6.78 - N/A

7. Humira - Rheumatoid arthritis - Abbott - $6.55 - 19%

8. Avastin - Cancer - Roche -  $6.22 - 8%

9. Rituxan - Lymphoma Leukemia - Roche/Biogen Idec - $6.11 - 9%

10. Diovan - High blood pressure - Novartis - $6.05 - 1%

11. Crestor - High cholesterol - AstraZeneca - $5.69 - 26%

12. Seroquel - Depression Bipolar Schizophrenia - AstraZeneca - $5.3 - 9%

13. Herceptin - Breast cancer - Roche - $5.22 - 7%

14. Zyprexa - Bipolar Schizophrenia - Eli Lilly - $5.03 - 2%

15. Singulair  - Asthma Allergies - Merck & Co. - $4.99 - 7%

*Estimated, Otsuka declined to provide 2010 sales. Some year-over-year sales comparisons are N/A because there isn’t comparable 2009 data.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.

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Health Care Reform - When does it start? When does the hemorrhaging end?

Here in the United States we already pay far more per capita for health care than any other country in the world yet our health care system ranks far down the list in terms of quality of care.  Doesn't that seem odd to you?

For the past six years our political system has ground to a halt because of the partisan bickering between political parties over Obamacare.

And the many candidates running for the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections are all over the place in terms of whether they support Obamacare, want to fix Obamacare or want to dump Obamacare.

Obamacare is really called the Affordable Care Act and there is nothing affordable about it.  In terms of the health care industry, the cost of nothing has gone down but the premiums, profits, bonuses and kickbacks have sure gone up.

If we were really interested in hearing the truth the story would be a whole lot different. You see, Obamacare did nothing to fix the health care system, it only extended an already broken system to the millions of Americans who are uninsured.

The truth is far more brutal than worrying about the consequences of Obamacare.  The truth consists of the following:

Nothing is being done in Washington to improve the quality of health care service.

Nothing is being done in Washington to reduce the criminally high cost of health care.

Nothing is being done in Washington to stop the unnecessary and excessive amount of patient testing to determine the cause of health problems, many of which are never confirmed.

Nothing is being done in Washington to stop the millions of dollars in kickbacks to doctors for prescribing their drugs for patient treatment.

Nothing is being done in Washington to stop the corrupt influence of hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by the current health care system to legally bribe our politicians through campaign contributions.

Nothing is being done in Washington to stop the insurance companies from denying coverage for many types of health care treatment that could drastically lower the cost through alternative health techniques.

Nothing is being done in Washington to stop the FDA, our federal regulatory agency, from favoring applications for New Drug Approval from super rich pharmaceutical companies over a host of low cost and time proven techniques to improve health that are being kept off the American market.

Nothing is being done to stop the runaway cost of court litigation relating to medical malpractice and class action health cases.

In the meantime billions of dollars are being wasted every year paying for the nonsense we call health care.  If we need more proof of the incompetence of our health care providers and corrupt nature of our health care system just look at the Veterans Administration scandal that is just beginning to unfold.

The Obama Administration claims to have done more to reform the health care system than any president since George Washington (that is a joke), at least it wants to be given such credit, yet for six long years the very people Obama sent to war have been cheated, lied to, ignored and killed by the very same saviors of health care, the Obama administration.

What is the logic in that?  We can  reduce the cost of health care by killing off those who were sent to risk their lives fighting for our country?  America needs to wake up.  Our federal government, all of it, is under the control of the White House, not just the parts that seem to work.

If our federal government knew how to provide better health care then why did thousands of veterans get cheated for the past six years.  Thanks in large part to the health care and related industries Obama spent over $2 billion to get elected two times.

It seems to me the only health care insurance that works in America was the investment by the health care providers, big pharmaceutical corporations, Wall Street, big banks, the insurance industry, the trial lawyers and financial institutions of $2 billion in the Obama campaign because they are the only ones financially benefiting from the health care fraud and abuse sanctioned by the Obama Administration and Congress.

People have got to wake up, demand more from their elected officials, throw out those who protect the status quo and encourage those with no strings attached to find ways to make it work.  In short, people deserve a return on their investment in so called democracy and holding all those responsible for our broken system accountable is the first step.

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Health Care in America - Obama and Big Pharma - Strange Bedfellows

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The Broken American Health Care System

When he ran for office Obama pledged to get control of health care costs and the first thing he did was have his then Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel negotiate a multi billion dollar deal with big pharmaceutical companies to get their backing for his Obamacare health program.

Details of this deal have never been made public but he did get the support and money from big pharma to lobby and pass his health care program.  As profits continue to climb and costs continue to soar for prescription drugs in America let us look at how they have fared in selling their drugs under Obamacare.

Would you like to know what contributions you are making to drug companies in America? Here are the top 15 drug sales of prescription drugs for 2010 as reported by Bloomberg News.

As you will note, the drug is first, what it treats next, the annual sales in BILLIONS of dollars, and the percentage change over the previous year.  This does not include sales for livestock, fish and poultry use which can represent up to 70% of total antibody drug sales for big pharma, tens of billions more in revenues.

.

Lipitor Topped Worldwide Drug Sales in 2010; Crestor Gains Most

1. Lipitor - High cholesterol - Pfizer - $10.7 - -6%

2. Plavix - Blood clot prevention - Bristol Myers - $9.43 - -4%

3. Remicade - Rheumatoid arthritis - J&J Merck & Co. - $7.99 - N/A

4. Advair - Asthma - GlaxoSmithKline - $7.94 - 2%

5. Enbrel - Rheumatoid arthritis - Amgen/Pfizer - $7.23 - N/A

6. Abilify- -Depression Bipolar Schizophrenia - Otsuka/Bristol-Myers - $6.78 - N/A

7. Humira - Rheumatoid arthritis - Abbott - $6.55 - 19%

8. Avastin - Cancer - Roche -  $6.22 - 8%

9. Rituxan - Lymphoma Leukemia - Roche/Biogen Idec - $6.11 - 9%

10. Diovan - High blood pressure - Novartis - $6.05 - 1%

11. Crestor - High cholesterol - AstraZeneca - $5.69 - 26%

12. Seroquel - Depression Bipolar Schizophrenia - AstraZeneca - $5.3 - 9%

13. Herceptin - Breast cancer - Roche - $5.22 - 7%

14. Zyprexa - Bipolar Schizophrenia - Eli Lilly - $5.03 - 2%

15. Singulair  - Asthma Allergies - Merck & Co. - $4.99 - 7%

*Estimated, Otsuka declined to provide 2010 sales. Some year-over-year sales comparisons are N/A because there isn’t comparable 2009 data.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net.

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Memo to Internet Spammers and TV Advertisers - No More Prescription Addiction

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Older Americans now take over 8 prescription drugs a day to sustain their lives. All health care reform is going to do it make it easier and cheaper to take more prescriptions. But after spending a lifetime taking vaccines, booster shots, antibiotics, and maintenance drugs, all which contributed to poor health and higher insurance premiums, what can we do? I say stop taking prescription drugs. The only reason you have to is because you spent your life doing what they told you to do.



It is time we said enough is enough and started getting well rather than getting treated. But before we make such a dramatic step forward in survival you need to take The I Don't Need Creed. It goes something like this.



The I Don't Need Creed!

I don't need drugs for depression because I'm not depressed.

I don't need drugs to relax because I'm already relaxed.



I don't need drugs to sleep because I don't feel like sleeping.

I don't need drugs to wake up because I didn't take drugs to sleep.



I don't need drugs to have sex because, well, it's none of your business.

I don't need drugs for sore legs because I earned the pain.

I don't need drugs for aching joints because I played hard as a kid.

I don't need drugs for cancer because I just might not have it.



I don't need drugs to eat because I'm not hungry.

I don't need drugs to run the marathon because it's a stupid thing to do.

I don't need drugs for being tired because I'm not tired.

I don't need drugs for plastic surgery because I like who I am.

I don't need drugs just because I'm eligible for AARP.



I don't need drugs to stop smoking because I stopped.

I don't need drugs for brittle bones because they aren't brittle.

I don't need drugs for my teeth and gums because they don't hurt.



I don't need drugs for wrinkles because I laughed enough to earn them.

I don't need drugs for soft or brittle nails because they look just fine.

I don't need drugs for smooth skin because smooth is not me.



I don't need drugs for gray hair because I should be getting gray.

I don't need drugs for being left handed because ass backward is okay by me.

I don't need drugs for nightmares because I might learn a lesson.



I don't need drugs for headaches for glasses because I can see just fine.

I don't need drugs for moles or warts because they don't bother me.

I don't need drugs to think better because I think just enough.

I don't need drugs to be happy because my eyes are open.



I don't need drugs for self esteem because I'm not ashamed of who I am.

I don't need drugs for doing stupid things because I might need them all the time.

I don't need drugs to eat better because I'm already big enough.

I don't need drugs to diet because I can stop eating junk.



I don't need drugs for a cold because I was out in the rain.

I don't need drugs to feel well because I want to keep feeling well.

I don't need drugs for thin blood because I already bleed too much.



I don't need drugs for a stroke because I don't have one.

I don't need drugs for mosquito bites because they are supposed to bite.

I don't need drugs for tick or flea bites because I don't walk in the woods.

I don't need drugs for clean water to drink because all the water is dirty.



I don't need drugs to stop heartburn because I don't have it yet.

I don't need drugs to stop headaches because I can turn off the TV.

I don't need drugs for Alzheimer's because I don't remember having it.

THE END

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