Posted on 10/09/2016 10:00:52 AM PDT by Kaslin
Perhaps this is the reason the price of lifesaving EpiPens increased so dramatically: the single-largest purchaser of the pens in 2015 were taxpayers.
The largest source of Mylan's increased revenue came from increased spending from Medicaid and Medicare for the devices. The price of the EpiPens has increased by over 400 percent since Medicaid and Medicare became a larger percentage of EpiPen's revenue.
"The majority of Mylan's EpiPen revenue growth came from Medicare and Medicaid," Senator Chuck Grassley told NBC News in a statement after the Iowa Republican's office published an analysis of newly released data on rebates paid by the drugmaker to the government.
The two programs, which help cover healthcare costs for the poor and elderly, are funded by taxpayer dollars.
From 2011 to 2015, government spending rose from being 23 percent of Mylan's EpiPen revenue to 53 percent, according to Grassley's analysis of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) figures disclosed this week.
At the same time, the price the government paid for the emergency allergic reaction treatment rose by 463 percent.
Curious.
Obviously a company has no qualms with increasing (and over-charging) the price of something when the government is willing to buy a large quantity. Private consumers, however, are the ones getting screwed.
Monopolies are alive and well in the US.
Follow the money, I am sure it all leads back to the Clinton Foundation.....
But Trump said pussy, oh knoes!
Government money has the same effect on education and housing.
It’s easy to fix this... allow foreign purchases, and allow competitors to enter the market. Prices will drop dramatically overnight.
As it is, it’s illegal to buy one from Europe (as little as $40), and the competition is stuck in FDA Hell, awaiting approval, likely for years. In the meantime, Manchin’s daughter milks the sweet spot that DC corruption has given her.
When the customer does not pay directly for the meds, the med provider can charge whatever they want because the consumer has no idea the cost.
In this case it is a life saving drug, Mylan is fleecing us taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars.
Sure some people are directly impacted, but to Mylan, they are "budget dust".
The word is FASCISM — Nominally private businesses, who really are an arm of the massive government, who play by the states’ and ideologue politicians’ rules, and who, in return, get to use their approved insider status to scam the system.
The US Fed.gov deserves bankruptcy. It is beyond reform and it is destroying the Constitution.
I’ll support any politician who proposes it.
Seems the ONLY thing Taxpayer Dollars can no longer buy are Liberty, Truth and Justice!
Grrrr!
I’d better take a FR Break and go play outside. I’m getting, ‘bitey’ today - which could lead to being, ‘stabby!’
C’mon, Dogs! Lets’ go take a LONG walk! :)
So Epipens are in the same category as the $150 hammers and $1,000 toilet seats that they Air Force buys. And here we have the company CEO is the daughter of Joe Manchin, the RAT Senator from WVA. How convenient for “skid greasing.” This country’s government at all levels is simply rotten to the core.
One more Medicare and Medicaid rip off.
Someone could make a bunch of $$$ on a Qui Tam Lawsuit.
When a corporation gets into a mire, spreads itself too thin like butter, and goes thru Chapter whatever-it-is, it takes stock of itself, does some soul searching, figures out if it didn't already know its core businesses, and gets rid of the rest.
In this case it is easier - there is no question what the core bizness of the federales is... it's written down for all to read.
We can play their game that a Bush family member put out. FReepers do better research. We broke brokjaw’s scam if you remember. You can’t hide your dirt any more it’s always some where on the net.
obama pussy and ribs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKYmiWiNqOw
Fake outrage bills bimbos are all over u tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M4-5n0e2VU
arnold’s 5th child by mistress maid
http://hollywoodlife.com/2015/06/25/arnold-schwarzenegger-love-child-son-joseph-baena-interview/
mccain’s potty mouth
http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/notfornothing/archive/2008/02/16/The-AP-wonders-about-McCain-s-pottymouth.aspx
bill still groping women
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKoSbpwncE
The Senator’s Daughter Who Raised Prices on the EpiPen
Not just the Epi pen, all drugs have risen in price. Many drugs are now imported, one I had said made in china right on the tube. Maybe that is why it broke me out in a skin rash.
My Synthyroid was $17 a month just a couple yrs ago, today it’s nearly $40 retail. And it is not an advertised drug like Lyrica, Crestor, etc.
It is why docs push these newer drugs over older lower price drugs. Lyrica is very expensive, 50% side effect failure rate vs Valium as generic is just as effective on nerve pain and cost a 5th of what Lyrica does and you take lower doses without all Lyrica’s side effects. Ditto goes for Crestor, slick ads made it #1, Provachol a older drug works just as well on LDL cholesterol with out all the side effects of Crestor.
Wait until the shortage in pain meds hits in 2017, you think the new pain med laws are restrictive, it will be worse come 2017. Tramadol aka Ultram was FDA flagged for increased suicide deaths in 2010 not seen it removed from the market or a black box warning on it. And your doc sure isn’t going to tell you. http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/4/13166594/dea-opioid-epidemic-manufacturer-2017-substance-abuse
Funny, I paid for them and somehow didn’t get one.
The cost of epinephrine in an EpPen is about $1000 per ml of 1:1000 mixture. That’s based in the adult EpiPen having .3 ml of 1:1000 epinephrine and costing about $300.
Go to http://www.buyemp.com/product/epinephrine-vial and you’ll see that you can buy 30 ml of the stuff for $74. That’s about $2.50 per ml.
What do we make of that?
I clicked and only saw the picture, so don’t know if the piece covered this, but I wonder what Medicare and Medicaid actually pay vs what the initial charge is.
And he belongs to the rat party, so it’s no surprise. To bad he doesn’t have to run for reelection, otherwise I would say I hope the voters of WV vote his ass out.
You mean the picture that is on top of the article?
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