New York Times Article : Industry Fights to Put Imprint on Drug Bill
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Also see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/24/politics/24MEDI.html?th
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Love to talk some more - I agree that, like any other tool, capitalism can be used for good or evil. Unfortunately, there seems to be much more evil in it during Republican administrations. How do you put a value on clean air, for instance? And who pays to keep it clean?
Also, like any tool, capitalism has it's limits. It isn't a panacea or god/savior as many believe.
And I think the key to a capitalist society is open access to information. Same is true for a healthy democracy. So what does Bush do? Hide as much public information as possible, while gathering all they can on private citizens.
;)
v
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 1:46 PM
To: Jones, Vicki
Don't kid yourself, the Medicare reform stuff going through Congress rught was not crafted by the Pharma'a, far from it.....why would the pharmas want to give the government effective pricing control, when right now they are essentially a price taker. When the Medicare reform goes through. the government will control roughly 50-60% of the healthcare dollars being spent....so whos' trying to control whom??? The problem is big government......plus last time I checked 17% margins isn't fat by any stretch....they're attractive in today's market, but as I pointed out.
they're not the only ones making attractive profits, but they are the only ones, people fault for doing it......could they lower prices, sure they could, but the risk you run there is that they have a string of failures on drugs they expected to do well that ended up flopping....then everyone is in a pickle...the economy would suffer the markets would suffer........so it pays to keep theswe guys healthy....you may not like it....but its what keeps our lifestyles intact. Its very simplistic to think that Pharma are the only ones lobbying for or against reforms......thats the nature of a capitalistic society....they are just one of many large lobbying groups.....And because of that we need to put a president in place that doesn't unduly favor the welfare of corporations to the detriment of others or the environement just for the sake of preserving the almighty dollar.
President Bush has too many interests at stake to be truely objective in his policies. Perhaps Dean may be the better candidate.....And as far as our healthcare system, the numbers support the fact that we don't neccessarily have the best general healthcare, but we do have the best acute care system in the world....period...thats the difference between social medicine and and a for-profit system. Socially driven care makes certain that all people have adequate levels of general care, but it frowns on having to accomodate the expensive procedures. A perfect example are the new Drug-Eluting stents which are used to prop open arteries/vessels after they have collapsed/clogged....Europe is resisting these becuase they are more expensive, but the states are embracing them wholeheartily......Europe says they can get by with the old stents, becuase they only have a set budget to work with, they spend it here it has to come from somewhere else.. Drug-eluting stents help prevent restenosis. which is a key failure for current stents.......The point, is that there are positives and drawbacks to every system in the world, and no one system is perfect...We have the lifestyle and culture that we do because it is driven by capitalists. Fortunately or unfortunately, a market driven system is essentially steered by greed and envy....No one has purely selfless intentions. Why does anyone want lower drug prices or lower prices on cars...etc.? So that they can put more money in their pockets and improve their own lifestyles. By understanding the true motivations, compromises should be easier to attain. Its only when everyone has hidden agendas that things bog down, fester and grow. The key to a successful capitalistic society is making sure that everything remains in check, and that the scales are balanced. Its only when things get out of balance that a market-driven society can really go awry.........Personally I think we have to find a mid-point between socialized medicine and a purely for-profit system. And the debate continues....maybe we should have our own talk show...haha...smiling..
Love ya,
SZ
Posted by Vicki at September 24, 2003 08:23 PM