Where Do We Draw the Line?
Riddle me this, free market capitalists. What do you do when a drug company, which has recently developed the closest thing to a cure for cancer, has decided to charge more than the average salary a physician makes annually for only one treatment with the stuff?
The pharmaceutical company Genentech believes it should be able to charge $100,000 a pop for it’s revolutionary drug, Avastin, just because they know that people, when struggling for their lives, will pay anything for it.
Is this an example of good fiscal libertarian values at work? What if I told you that much of the research cost for the drug was funded with American taxpayer dollars? In fact, on average 44% of all medical research costs in this country are funded by taxpayer dollars. Shouldn’t we have some say in how much these companies are charging for these drugs?
Interested?
Here. Have a listen.
posted by HUCK at 2:32 PM
11 Comments:
Shouldn't widescreen HD ready plasma televisions be cheaper? After all, they operate using the airwaves that are owned and paid for by the public.
Oh, wait. The price comes down the more people buy them. Kind of like when a CD player cost $800.
Look up equilibrium in your economics text book, commie punk.
Fri Feb 17, 06:17:00 PM
I understand the argument that there are research costs that need to be paid for. That's why hi-tech shit always = expensive. But TV's aint already governmentally funded. Drugs are, and the price of this Avestin shit was recently doubled for no reason other than to capitalize on the demand.
I'm just saying, if my tax dollars are going there anyway, I want to get a discount for the shit I've already paid for.
Look up pay-up-sucka in the hood, white devil.
Fri Feb 17, 06:33:00 PM
No. I like this better:
Cracker bitch!
Fri Feb 17, 06:42:00 PM
I don't know. The difference between plasma televisions and somebody living.
So hard to decide.
I go with door number two, although a plasma television sounds pretty cool but I'm figuring it will be obsolete in about six months.
Fri Feb 17, 07:15:00 PM
Nice false dichotomy 'coma. It isn't an either or proposition. It is part of the economic model that even WITH gubmint support, prices for goods and services will remain high and only affordable once the "new thing" becomes mainstreamed by the initial return on investment is recouped and supply and demand find the equilibrium price.
Huck, read this for how TV ain't not funded by Congress:
http://www.cato.org/tech/tk/020805-tk.html
Put that in your bong and smoke it, pinko hippie bone smuggler.
Sat Feb 18, 09:35:00 AM
Honestly, I would be in support of the whole "you gotta pay for the research" factor if the same pharmaceutical companies didn't sell the same drugs in Europe for a fraction of the price they charge in the U.S.
The difference, I guess, is that the E.U. places limits on how much these companies can mark up their drugs. Hell, there was a whole uproar about raising the price of aspirin from 50 cents to 60 cents.
Now, if Americans are the only ones footing the bills for research, that hardly makes sense, especially if taxes are already paying for the research.
The bottom line - these companies work on greed. And America lets them be greedy. It is a capitalist country, after all. Do I agree? Not when it comes to health care. But it is going to take a lot to change the system.
Sat Feb 18, 12:08:00 PM
Mr. Castro, sir. Please answer this for me won't you? How many people will die who could have been saved, if only they had gotten a few hours more of high definition Lost? If only they could have held out long enough for the price to come down at Best Buy...
Thank Jesus for reruns!
Oh, almost forgot...
You facist pigfucker!
Sat Feb 18, 05:05:00 PM
...Also.
I want my HDTV.
Sat Feb 18, 05:35:00 PM
Hopefully, all of them.
More high priced medicine for me when the Big C grabs a hold of me because of my death stick habit and low cost TVs to while away my remaining months.
Right now, I'm watching Apocalypse Now in HD and it is fucking awesome!
Later, you slack-jawed mongoloid collectivist.
Sat Feb 18, 05:41:00 PM
Goddammit! Aren't you supposed to be out of town?
Or was that all a ruse to throw off Emmy's body-guards?
Your's Truly, Stalker preevert,
Sat Feb 18, 05:48:00 PM
I applaud your blog,i took zyprexa which was ineffective for my condition and gave me diabetes.
{Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco}
Zyprexa, which is used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, accounted for 32% of Eli Lilly's $14.6 billion revenue last year.
Zyprexa has been linked to causing diabetes and pancreatitis.
Did you know that Lilly made nearly $3 billion last year on diabetic meds, Actos,Humulin and Byetta?
Yes! They sell a drug that causes diabetes and then turn a profit on the drugs that treat the condition that they caused in the first place!
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Daniel Haszard http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
Fri May 26, 02:19:00 PM
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