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Competition is the best Rx
Chicago Tribune ^ | June 27, 2007 | Editorial Staff

Posted on 06/27/2007 5:57:53 AM PDT by gpapa

Medical care isn't all about heart attacks and brain surgery. Sometimes it's about pink-eye. Sometimes it's about flu shots. Sometimes it's about that same beastly sinus infection that shows up every December, like clockwork, just when your doctor's office is swarmed with senior citizens getting flu shots, kids with pink-eye and people like you nursing their annual sinus infections. Good luck getting an appointment on short notice.

Other options: You can suffer. You can take your sinus infection to the emergency room, where you'll have to wait in line behind all the real emergencies. Or you can stop by your local Wal-Mart and come away with a prescription, a gallon of milk and 48 rolls of toilet paper.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: doctors; drugs; health; walmart

1 posted on 06/27/2007 5:57:56 AM PDT by gpapa
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To: gpapa

If drug stores are allowed to employ providers, then providers (Doctors/NP’s/PA’s) should be allowed to sell medications. Competition is okay ONLY if the playing field is level.


2 posted on 06/27/2007 6:08:08 AM PDT by TortReformer
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To: TortReformer

And who gets to decide? I know, lets ask the lawyers in the legislatures. they pretend to know what’s best on everything. /s


3 posted on 06/27/2007 6:14:24 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: TortReformer
If drug stores are allowed to employ providers, then providers (Doctors/NP’s/PA’s) should be allowed to sell medications. Competition is okay ONLY if the playing field is level.

Shhh! Medicine is all about locking things up so nobody has access to a free market and nobody knows the real price of anything.

4 posted on 06/27/2007 6:36:38 AM PDT by BlazingArizona
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To: TortReformer

Some physicians DO tilt the ‘playing field’.
I know quite a few patients that get all their medication for free. The physicians give them the SAMPLES.

I think the mini clinics in drug stores would be a great idea. (There was a patient that came to the emergency room for CHAPPED LIPS.)


5 posted on 06/27/2007 6:42:39 AM PDT by griswold3
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To: griswold3

What do you have against physicians selling meds?


6 posted on 06/27/2007 7:04:02 AM PDT by From many - one.
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To: From many - one.

What do you have against physicians selling meds?

Nothing at all. The more competition the better. Walmart has $8 dollar antibiotics and now Meijers lowers their prices, so goes RiteAide...

The more the merrier. Perhaps physicians SELLING med would put pressure on the pharmacies for better prices but I don’t see doctors banding together to negotiate lower prices.

Free is better!

(Disclosure: my daughter is a pharmacist)


7 posted on 06/27/2007 7:23:49 AM PDT by griswold3
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To: gpapa

I was at a Boston investor meeting and saw a presentation by a company named ProNaI. The company has strong empirical data on a cure for three kinds of cancer. Their problem? No one wants to invest in cures in the Rx market. They of course want lifelong treatments. It’s sickening. Ironically, I am selling marketing products to Rx and when I sell between $50M-$125M like my other three competitors, will fully fund such projects.


8 posted on 06/27/2007 3:12:36 PM PDT by quant5
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