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medpundit |
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Monday, May 13, 2002“Leaders from the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union and other groups wrote a letter asking FTC Commissioner Timothy J. Muris to investigate the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade group for brand-name drug makers, for using the United Seniors Association as "a shell group to promote prescription drug legislation on television." They said that the ads mislead consumers because they do not make it clear that they are financed by the drug industry. "The fact of the matter is that the organization wouldn't be putting the ads on the market unless the pharmaceutical industry hadn't cut them a $3 million check," said Edward Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans.” The pharmaceutical industry should think twice before advocating Medicare payments for drugs. Not only will it expand the cost of healthcare for a system that is already having trouble paying its bills, but it will open the door for all sorts of price regulations and standards on drugs. Government-funded medicine isn’t the boon for industry that defense contracting is. Instead of financial windfalls they will end up with a host of oversight bodies and regulations that will stifle them; just like doctors who accept Medicare, and just like the poor NHS phsicians I linked to in the last post. The other factor they need to consider is that traditional insurance coverage takes its cues from Medicare. When Medicare pays less for something, so do the insurance companies. The only people who will gain from Medicare coverage of drugs are the few people who will be able to get their drugs covered before the whole system goes bankrupt from the financial burden. posted by Sydney on 5/13/2002 08:15:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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