Don't forget this rip-off, 99¢ for a half cup of sterile saline solution and the ingrediants can be got for free right out of the ocean.
Or then again maybe there's more to this medical stuff than just "ingredients"...
Posted on 05/01/2014 4:34:21 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot
Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates that the U.S. added a mediocre 180,000 jobs to the economy in April. “We have a little problem here, we still have the weather issue to be sorted out,” he says. He thinks it’s possible that the unemployment rate inches down to 6.6% but “we haven’t had any fundamental changes, you just always see a little bouncing around.”
“People don’t realize this, but we spend a lot of money on prescription drugs,” he says. “The reason we do that is because the government is giving drug companies patent monopolies.” Without patent monopolies drugs would all cost between $5-$10 per prescription says Baker.
“That’s about 2% of GDP, the difference between what we pay now and what we would pay without those monopolies. I think that’s the sort of thing we should be looking into. It’s not going to get us jobs tomorrow, but it will get the economy on a more healthy growth path with more equality.”
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
He's right that it wouldn't get us jobs tomorrow, laying off tens of thousands of drug researchers and scientists wouldn't get us jobs next month or next year either.
Finally, we will have more equality, no new drugs for anyone. Liberal bliss!
Freakin' idiot!!!
Liberal idiocy ping!!!
Get rid of the turd that occupies the WH.
1. 0bama resigns
2. Biden resigns
3. Reid resigns
A hat trick that will instantly revive the economy. Of course, Boehner would be the Preezy, but he wouldn't actively harm the country.
We do seem to have a problem with drug costs... (From an email I received)
Verified @http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp
Costco - A MUST READ
Make sure you read to the end. You will be amazed.
Let’s hear it for Costco! (This is just mind-boggling)
Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed
below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington , DC offices.
Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America .
Celebrex:100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%
Claritin:10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%
Keflex:250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%
Lipitor:20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%
Norvasc:10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%
Paxil:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%
Prevacid:30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%
Prilosec: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%
Prozac:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%
Tenormin:50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%
.
Vasotec:10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%
Xanax:1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%
Zestril:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809%
Zithromax:600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%
Zocor:40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%
Zoloft:50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%
Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this.
It pays to shop around! This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen’s on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit , did a story on generic drug prices gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. So often we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example if you had to buy a prescription drug,and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills.
The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are saving $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!
At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.
I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience I had to use the
I use the drug Compazine which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.
I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS.
I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.
I would like to mention, that although Costco is a ‘membership’ type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy your prescriptions there as it is a federally regulated substance.
You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in.
I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.
Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address:sdavis@doc.gov
Great.
--because there'd be no more patent medicines available and we'd only be paying for the empty box.
the U.S. dollar needs to come down in order to bring better, higher-paying jobs back to the U.S. "If we got the dollar down we would see more exports, fewer imports...
Amazing, the moron actually thinks exchange rates affect the trade balance. He says he's got a PhD from U Mich; wonder how much it cost...
I wonder if there are additional costs involved, on top of the active ingredients? What do you think?
I agree, he's an idiot!!!
Dropping patents would be unfair to the pharmaceuticals that invested in research. And it would kill drug innovation. They get a patent for 20 years and several of those are often taken up with clinical trials.
And lowering the dollar is not the right solution to the trade imbalances. Raising the import tariffs, and cutting income taxes by an equal amount, will bring back manufacturing. Plus we need to limit China from spending it's cash on equities. They need to either buy trade goods or U.S. debt.
I might marginally agree with him about too much consolidation and not enough competition. But he didn't list any examples. The FTD still looks at anti-trust situations for monopolies. We could take a harder line on anti-trust, but I doubt we'd get a lot of jobs from that.
It worked for Zimbabwe, all their workers make the big bucks.
I don’t know. But 2700%? I don’t even know if all of this is true, but Scopes supports at least part of it...
Don't forget this rip-off, 99¢ for a half cup of sterile saline solution and the ingrediants can be got for free right out of the ocean.
Or then again maybe there's more to this medical stuff than just "ingredients"...
Research and development, trials, and fanatical lawyers are all free.
“Don’t forget this rip-off, 99¢ for a half cup of sterile saline solution and the ingrediants can be got for free right out of the ocean.”
I don’t know. I just report, you decide. I gave you what I had...
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%
Well, the arithmetic is right, bu the problem is set up wrong. Sharon L. Davis is a Budget Analyst for the Federal Government, because she doesn’t understand business.
Markup is the difference between the selling price and TOTAL cost to produce an item.
In this case, the TOTAL cost to produce includes, but is not limited to: R&D, testing, labor, production facilities, taxes, benefits, legal fees, inactive ingredients, packaging, labeling, transportation, spoilage, and inventory carrying.
They probably have to spend a little on learning what the correct active ingredients are not to mention how to make them.
You're no fun at all.
They probably have to spend a little on learning what the correct active ingredients are not to mention how to make them.
+1
Its bad when we have long time Freepers who get fooled by this propaganda.
Ah. I guess that means now I got to find someone else to harass...
Three ways to fix the economy:
1) end the Fed
2) allow precious metals also to be legal currency
3) Done - you can do it in two steps
Plus, you will end Progressivism, which depends 100% on government spending and force, and pull it up by its roots.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.