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Big Pharma

gawker

Older than dirt

OT - I just saw a teaser for 60 Minutes where they’ll be talking about one of the greatest rip-offs in history - the prices that we pay for prescription medications.
Yesterday I started a regimen of pills - one per day for 90 days. Easy enough. Each pill costs $1047. 50. I understand that the pharmaceutical company laid out millions developing the drug, conducting double blind studies and marching it through FDA approval. However the literature accompanying the pills speaks of “more than 8000” cures. So 8000 x $90,000 is $720,000,000. And the medication only came out last year and treats a condition where estimates of prevalence exceed more than 5 million undiagnosed cases.
Now my co-payment is only $30.00 per month, but those who share my insurance company ( and every other one) will be paying higher insurance premiums.
Why has our Congress prohibited Medicare & Medicaid from negotiating lower drug prices? Oh yah, another major expenditure driving up prices? Funding re-election campaigns, of course. And who’s getting screwed?