Free Republic

So, after six years of pharmacy school and a doctorate in pharmacy, long before this issue and the drug came to the fore, I have to change professions if I’m faced with an abortifacient prescription.

Thanks a lot.

So, several scientists think they have the secret to create life and appoint one of their members to approach God.
He says to God: “We have figured out how to create life and I can prove it by taking a handfull of clay beneath my feet and working with it in our laboratories to create a human being” He then reaches down to grab some clay and God says:
“What a minute, get your own clay”

I have been a compounding pharmacist, Chief Hospital Pharmacist, home infusion pharmacist etc. for almost fifty years. Throughout, I have helped patients and physicians provide tailored prescriptions that were and are still not available commercially. For many years I was in the area of pediatrics for which we would compound palatable preparations so that very sick children would take their medicines. In recent years I have been the CEO of a successful company that provides compounded intravenous solutions to dialysis patiets. Heaven help us if the the FDA interfers with this practice.

Calvin Coolidge. Absolutely. He was the one who said
that he was proud of his administration mainly because
he minded his own business.

The U.S. is smarter than that. It institutes controversial euthania programs under different names; such as the Prescription Drug Benefit or Medicare Part D.

Congress is looking for ways to side-step intellectual property if the price is right. Some of them want to legitimize the exportation of drugs which is simply thievery of drug company patents.

I wish I could should my builder. I had to sue him instead.

Having been to a convention in NO two years ago and now reading how bad this city is and was, I feel lucky that there were no incidents at the time. However, I am convinced that I will NEVER visit NO again and I'll bet their tourist industry is finished.

Bravo, paisani. Now if only the tourists would pitch in and not buy copy-cat handbags and other junk from the illegal street vendors all over the major cities in Italy.

Proud to be Italian.

Not unlike the arguments here on FreeRepublic about pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for abortion purposes. Unless there is no alternative, health care providers should be able to exercise their religious beliefs in their practice.

I was on this ride about two months ago with my teenage grandaughters and I was nauseous for a couple of hours thereafter. I don't the the warning language is strong enough. I survived of course but I'm a healthy 68 years old.

Excellent analysis and an intriguing concept. I would add that the system must require the political elite to wait in the same lines as everyone else and get no special favors.
That would assure a certain level of quality for the rest of us poor slobs.

Given all the corruption in Philly, perhaps Mayor Street was either on his way from or to a drop. All that cash in a black bag could cause a problem.

Perhaps an accountant-Freeper can verify this: donations to charity lose their tax deductibility the higher your income; therefore charitable deductions could actually increase if we did away with the estate tax.

Actually, it takes 6 years to become a pharmacist plus an internship leading to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. It's not a simple matter just to change jobs. Furthermore, virtually all state regulations put an equal burden on pharmacists to be certain that prescriptions do no harm. Thus is it ridiculous to assume that pharmacists must simply fill an order as written.

However, I agree that is not unreasonable for patients to patronize another pharmacy that is willing to fill such prescriptions. What are talking about; freedoms for the patients and pharmacists or patients' convenience?

Also at the bottom of the list is our own John "The brothers and the sisters are in charge" Street of Philadelphia. How he has managed thus far to escape indictment on the widespread pay-for-play scandal is beyond me.

"By law they cannot make money"

Not true. The "Blues" make tons of money, only they call it "reserves" rather than profit. I think we'll never see an end to this as long as the cozy relationship continue to exist between Pennsylvania lawmakers and the insurance industry. Insurance Commissioner Diane Kolken recently ruled that the huge reserves held by the Blues are "not excessive". Guess where she will be working after her stint with the state government.

Hmmm. I thought that was an exhibition game. The Eagles are bringing their A game to the next one. GO EAGLES!

I don't see where anyone was FIRED!! If this were a private or public corporation, they would have been indicted by now.

John: My daughter was first diagnosed with anorexia about 18 years ago. For a time we thought we were going to lose her. One of our friends lost her daughter to the illness. It took many years, but slowly she came around with professional, eating disorder specialists and a good, understanding internist to treat her medical conditions. As mentioned above, it is not about the weight or the food. Equally important is for you and your wife to go into a group counseling session such as those offered by the American Anorexia/Bulimia Association. I'm sure there is a local chapter nearby. You can google search them. A word of caution: do not engage psychologists, psychiatrists or others that do not restrict their practice to eating disorders.

Frankly, I think Martha was railroaded and should not have gone to prison. I would love to see George Bush pardon her even though she is a liberal. This would drive the libs nuts with his generosity and endear him with her following. (I'm ducking for the response).

She gave away someone else's assets. Reminds me of the definition of a liberal vs. a conservative: A lib and a conservative are walking down the street together and see a homeless man begging on the corner. The conservative reaches into his pocket, gives the guy 5 bucks and directs him to the nearest employment office. The liberal reaches into the conservative's pocket, gives the guy 5 bucks and directs him to the nearest welfare office.

Can anyone lead me to a transcript of the interchange between Zel Miller and Chris Mathews?

I just received a bunch of magnetized Bush/Cheney bumper stickers that I ordered for my delivery vehicles. Oddly enough, none of the conservative employees in my office were willing to put one of these on their car for fear
of reprisal by some liberal fanatic. Sad.

McGreevey said: "My truth is that I am a gay American"

How cute. Is that like saying I am an Italian American, an Irish American, a German American etc.? It has a nice patriotic ring, doesn't it? (sarcasm)

"The law called for tying reimbursements for chemotherapy drugs more closely to the price doctors, pay rather than the listed wholesale price. Doctors pay less than that price because drug companies give them substantial discounts"

What a concept! getting paid exactly (or less) what you pay for a drug regardless of volume, paperwork requirements, risk of denials and having to collect co-pays.Give me more of this. We can then expand it to getting groceries at cost, real estate at cost, legal fees at cost etc., etc.

I too was the only one in my family to go to college. We never considered ourselves "poor" when we were growing up but I can tell you this: My older brother and I had to share a bed in our small 3 bedroom urban house until he went off to the army. My two sisters also shared a bed growing up and I recall putting cardboard in our play shoes when we wore out the soles.

I started my own business in the basement of my home working 18 hour days some 20 years ago after receiving my MBA while working full time at another job. I have achieved riches beyond my wildest dreams. We have a huge estate with a brand new home and an apartment in midtown Manhattan. What a country! And, I did it providing useful goods and services rather than on the backs of others.

What do you expect in a city where guys get dressed up in fancy dresses, feathers and glitter every New Years' Day?

Watch it there. It's Barbra, not Barbara. I was chastised by
her manager many years ago for mispelling it on a
prescription label. He said to me "How famous do you
have to be in order for people to spell your name
correctly"
Arrogant putz.

Wait a minute. That's no female, that Danny Bonaduce !!

If we're lucky, they'll take another vote on the prescription drug benefit and rescind the beast.

"These same governmental hypocrites scream bloody murder when folks try to buy tax-free cigarettes from Indian reservations"

Good point. If they really want to save money, why don't they back a truck up to the drug manufacturer's warehouse in the dead of night.Theft is theft, whether or not it is intellectual property.

What galls me about this law is that they avoid instituting price controls directly by the government, but contract with private insurers and pharmacy benefit managers to do exactly that. They talk of "negotiations" with providers when these things are always take it or leave it.

WOW! Thanks for the post. I'm sending this off to my
congressman and senators.

PENNSYLVANIA, LAWYER FRIENDLY (The select group of lobbyists who are exempted from prohibitions of working for an industry that they regulated while working for the State without a waiting period---per the Philadelphia Inquirer report)

I don't get it. I thought the military was responsible for
getting the troops back home, even for R&R

The story is entirely believable. I've heard of similar investigations and extortions by the government. Their latest whipping boy is the pharmaceutical industry who pay up to avoid long and costly battles. I also understand that such payments stay within the Justice Department to further their investigations of others and for other uses. Sort of like a bonus to the prosecutors.
Gee, I hope their not listening.

How short-sighted can these politicians get? Why don't
they just federalize the entire pharmaceutical industry
and set prices and wages for everyone working in them?
Then we can count on the research from India, Brazil,
Canada etc to develop our new drugs.

Their profits are way out of line? Who says so? How much
profit is a company allowed to make? I say good for the pharmaceutical companies. Our cowardly Congress won't face up to fixing this thing but is trying to import government-controlled pricing from a socialized medicine country. By the way, you've got to admit that drugs are a blessing, even though they are over-promoted to the public

I was in Rome recently and was surprised by the increase
in graffiti and non-Italian street people. Sad.

Another unfunded mandate by our government! Guess who are going to be the real benfeciaries of the HIPAA Regulations....TORT LAWYERS.

When healthcare providers are accused of privacy violations, the government and tort lawyers will manage to squeeze money out of them merely for failing to follow the regulations.

There is another dirty little secret in this law that starts us on the path to a national health plan. They require all insurance companies to utilize a national set of codes for reimbursement rather than their own local codes. In so doing, the insurance companies reduced reimbursement to providers naturally and any insurer (government agency) can easily determine what therapy a patient is on.

Washington is dreaming to think the drug companies won't respond by reducing the supply in Canada and elsewhere. The
volume imported by pharmacies will be so great that they
will have no choice. Importing will be forced on the pharmacies and other providers because insurance companies
will eventually only reimburse the "Canadian" price.

Although I'm no fan of some of the tactics of big Pharma,
I think that legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada
and taking unfair advantage of their price controls and weaker dollar is going to force big Pharma to react by curtailing supplies to Canada and other measures to protect
their patents and profits. I can't blame them.

I agree, fellow Temple Owl. I am particularly ticked
about the slanderous Tony Auth cartoons he does
on George Bush and the GOP.

This is very timely. We were in the midst of considering
opening a branch in California. This may tip the scales
in the opposite direction. Nice going liberals!

I disagree. I think Katz will capitalize on the gaffs
John ("the brothers and sisters are in charge")Street.