He really blew it here.... An ipod purchase is a one-time expense for a luxury... you can choose not to buy one. Medicine is usually a number of purchases, and you don't have much choice. Poor comparison!

The congress and the senate "allowed wink wink " the drug companies to set the prices for prescription medicine .How is it that a medicine cost $29.00 in the USA ? In Cuba the same medicine is 40cents ..and offered free if you cant pay the 40cents .They take " bribes ".. i mean "donations" to keep the prices as high as possible . Wait till people on medicare try to use the "voucher" for 800.00 when they are in a 10K a month nursing home . Their share of cost is 9,200.00 a month on the average Social security check of 1.200.00 a month . The GOP assumes your unemployed family members will pick up the cost . This is their health care plan !

"You have that drug, and maybe your life today, because people have a profit motive to make that drug,"

The profit motive may help bring the drug into existence, but that won't make it available to everyone who needs it.

"We either believe in markets or we don't."

I can at least dream of a world with unicorns and scientists who do drug research with altruistic motives.

It was the Bush administration who insisted that it be illegal for the government to negotiate drug prices when they passed the Medicaire Perscription Drug Benefit. Santorum is going right along with that policy. Why do the drug companies still sell the same drug for half the price in Canada if they need the money so bad?

These kind of attitudes need to change if we ever want to get control of cost of health care in this country. And, by the way, doing that will be the biggest possible step to balancing our federal budget.

The whole conservative ideology is an oxymoron. Life-saving drugs can be priced out of reach for common folks and, at the same time, they won't regulate the drugs that could be life-threatening.

I almost forgot one very important aspect of the conservative ideology oxymoron - tort reform. Now not only can't you afford the life-saving drugs that my kill you, but you can't complain about it either!

Ursula,

The True Conservative ideology is not an oxymoron, the NEO-CON ideology is.....

Lets not confuse the two....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to repeal a provision of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul setting up a home-care program for the elderly and disabled that regulators said was unworkable.

The Republican-led House voted 267-159 for the bill that would terminate the Community Living Assistance Services(CLASS) Act that was supposed to create a voluntary insurance program to help the elderly and disabled pay for home care.

Republicans called it a step toward achieving their goal of dismantling the healthcare overhaul Obama signed into law nearly two years ago.

(Reporting By Donna Smith; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Just when you think they can't get any more callous. He can afford the best care for his special-needs child, while any number of people in my building decide between food and their heart & diabetes medicine. C'mon and visit Rick, bring Mitt with you.

No doubt. Rick Santorum is either clueless or evil. Yeah, an I-Pad is a one-time purchase. I know someone who is on so many medications that his prescriptions cost over a thousand dollars a month, and these are drugs he's considered to be on for life. Rick is sooo soo stupid. He should be mopping floors.

I'm all for free market competition for medications. I agree that without profits the drug companies would stop researching or bringing to market new medications. However, a major part of the problem is that OUR government has stopped free market competition because the drug companies wanted it stopped.

There is NO reason we couldn't buy drugs from Canada or many other regulated countries. Many of our drugs now are made in S. America and you can buy them at drug stores there for pennies compared to what they charge here for the exact same medication/packaging.

So yes, make it free market!!! But do it all the way and don't just make what we pay free market and everything else government protected.

People have no problem going out and buying an iPad for $900. But paying $200 for a drug they have a problem with -- that keeps you alive.

Let me ask you Mr. Candidate, how many times you have to pay $ 200.- for a medicine that will keep you alive? If you are paying $200 a month, it means that you pay $2,400 a year, and if you get to live 20 years you will pay $48,000. Tell me if the medicines to treat your daughter are less important than an Ipad... (Oh, I forgot that thanks to us you get free care while we have to pay for ours... and yours).

Inps Despite the fact that it is way cheaper to care for the elderly and infirm at home than in a home. Who are these regulators? Bankers? Nursing home operators?

INPS

The problem is nobody wants to pay for the R & D of medicines. The fed requires much stricter trials and research than the other nations. The other nations refuse to pay for any R & D and government compliance costs. That means they are artificially forcing the price lower. When you force prices down artificially low, then you have to make that up somewhere else. Because the drug companies complained to congress, congress agreed that the could have a certain number of years where they could charge a price that would pay for the R & D and government required safety trials.

When Obama beat up the drug companies (twice now) for lower prices, what they did to slash R & D to 1/3 their established levels. They also cut out overtime and warehouses. Because they have done this there are more drugs on back order. And guess what - the price is still increasing because it's capitalism - when the supply is low the goods go to the person willing to pay the most.

If you want the prices to drop and don't mind the possibility of an unworthy drug slipping through, cut the trials required by the FDA to the standards followed by the European countries or better yet to the standards (or lack thereof) in china.

I will tell you that drug industry puts a lot of money into the base for the drugs. You get the same drug dose in the generics, but if the base formula isn't quite right, the drug may not work as effectively. You get what you pay for in the end.

Good point DB. To those that say you can buy drugs in other countries like Cuba for 40 cents... do you realize the average wage in those countries are about 40 cents an hour? The liberals will bark at any moon as long as it has an R behind his/her name.

Let's face it, the liberals want the government to pay for it all. They want the government to tax the rich so they are no longer rich... give that money to poor and middle class people so everyone is making the same $2.00 per hour. My question is... what happens when the money runs out? Remember, we fund the government, not the other way around. Then the government says... Remember that $2.00 per hour... well, we can't afford to give you that much any more. We are dropping your wages down to $1.00 per hour now... get over it.

On another note... what about those 14,000 jobs American Airlines are getting rid of? I heard the news report tonight that there are going to be huge lay-offs at that airline. How's that help Obama's unemployment rate? They'll lie about it.

Most of the drugs that I pay for are made in Ireland,Germany, Mexico and Canada.If I go to Mexico for them they have the same country of origin, yet are a lot cheaper. Our elected officials get them even cheaper than that ,because we,their employers, pay their bills and costs.All we want is the same benefits that they get,or even what most other developed nations, have their ordinary people pay. We have been grossly exploited for too long and now that we understand this more of our population are becoming vocal about this the drug co.'s, the insurance co's and all of the related co's are giving huge amounts to the parasitic pols. to resist our demands for controls.

In fairness to drug companies, limiting profitablility also limits funding for research. It's not that I'm endorsing ludicrous markups for drugs, but realize if you start putting caps on what pharmaceutical makers can charge, you'll also limit the research they do into less-profitable drugs. I like Mike's idea of letting consumers buy drugs from other countries to bypass the US profit margin.

Completely speechless. Santorum has a daughter with a genetic disorder that will most likely kill her while she is a child, yet his insurance company pays tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars every time she goes to the hospital. I seriously doubt Santorum has paid more to the insurance company than he has received in benefits for his daughter. Everyone elses policy is more expensive to help care for his daughter, that is the whole point of insurance. Collective risk. As long as Santorum has his, he doesn't care about you. I can't believe people are unable to empathize with the suffering of others. Health care isn't a privilege.

Does anyone remember what happened when electricity prices were deregulated in California? Enron robbed the state because they could. It was a commodity people needed so they took the opportunity to make less power available and raised the prices through the roof. It did not stop until FERC stepped in. Then it ended just as quickly as it began. And that's what Republicans want to do with life-saving medication.

I wonder what Mr Sanitorium would think if HE had to pay for his daughters healthcare, after all as a "retired "member of congress ( he was tossed out because he did not do the right things in office) he gets his AND HIS FAMILY'S healthcare for FREE, PAID FOR BY THAT WOMAN ASKING A QUESTION, AS LONG AS YOU AND I. THAT IS THE HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY.

Santorum is just going along with "W's" policy, that it was illegal ( "BULL" ) to negotiate drug prices. Rick is for the 1%, not the common folks. This is all rigged by the 1%. In south America the same drugs are 89% less. The 1% want to control anything, they are corrupt and they will kill sick American Citizens for that greedy buck. Its all about money, not life's.

Santorum said rape victims should think of the babies conceived during their assault as gifts from God. This guy has a problem.

Brian, you are working OT tonight with some pretty weak responses. I'm a liberal and I certainly don't expect the Govt to pay for everything (though often us tax payers DO pay for R&D only to see it given to a drug company for little money). They should be charging all countries the same amount. Why should we suppliment other countries? And many drug companies are not in the US, so how does your arguement hold water? As for trials, you know as I know, there have been MANY drugs with long trial periods put on the market only to find later they were unsafe... due to rigged trials, cover-ups, etc. How is the Fed responsible?

One last garbage you spewed from the Rep play book, is how we liberals want to tax the rick so they are no longer rich. Paleeeze... all we want is ALL income taxed at the same rate... so the Robot Romneys of the world are paying the same rate as I am. Just a matter to fairness.

I either order my drugs from Canada or have them made at a compounding pharmacy. My Blue Cross coverage and big pharma charges me more for my drugs than I can purchase them at WalMart, Canada, or the compounding pharmacy. Yeah, thanks BC for the worst insurance coverage ever and a complete waste of tie and money. I think it's time to put Congress on SSI and let them pay for their own fu*king insurance, because I'm tired of them making and passing laws that benefit only themselves. Throw 'em all out, fu*king POS's!! Hey Santorum, burn in Hell and take some of your own medicine, if you can afford it!! What a d*ckhead....

Brian...what you heard if you had taken the time to listen to the whole story (unless you where informed by one of your "trusted" news sources) is that they accidentally released placebo in the prescribed packets. Please quit defending these billion dollar prescription drug companies.

Santorum is as clueless as he is heartless.

Someone needs to explain to him that there is no free market system anymore and there is no such thing as free trade. Both have been aborted by globalization and having to deal with foreign competition that is anything but free. We need fair trade, stronger anti-trust laws, the elimination of government subsidies, and the elimination of tax breaks that foster American business done outside our country - at our expense.

Why do we as Americans have to pay more for products like medicine, or gasoline, when we're better at making more of those products here than anywhere else in the world?

Because our legislators, like Rick, have made deals with big pharma and the big insurance companies to stifle outside competition and maintain pricing and profitability on medicines made here - at our expense.

And right now we're a net exporter of gasoline because oil companies make more money by putting gasoline, which we subsidize the production of here, up for sale to the highest bidder on the world market - at our expense.

The little guy asks Rick to say it isn't so, but Rick says so sad too bad kid. You see, Rick's kid is covered. Again, at our expense.

The little guy and his mom were easy pickings for Rick.

There is a big difference between a $900.00 Ipad and $200.00 a month for medicines and I pay more than that. I'm on a fixed income and if I didn't have the drug costs I'd buy something useful --not an Ipad. Where is this a** coming from.

Easy for Santorum to say. He has the cadillac government health care provided to all senators. Hypocrite!

Pharma has deep pockets and Rick Santorum is well into them. In 2006 (after Santorum was thrown out of the Senate by the voters of Pennsylvania) The Washington Post published excerpts from an e-mail to executives at the drug company GlaxoSmithKline:

"We now have fewer allies in the Senate," says the internal memo, obtained by The Washington Post. "Thus, there is greater risk over the next two years that bad amendments will be offered to pending legislation." The company's primary concerns are bills that would allow more imported drugs and would force price competition for drugs bought under Medicare. The defeat of Sen. Rick Santorum "creates a big hole we will need to fill,"

There's your Republican candidates: the best laws that money can buy!

The problem is market forces of supply and demand don't seem to work as well anymore..Cronyism,collusion,speculation,bad politics,etc override the market and force prices higher on many commodities including gasoline and drugs..Highway projects stall because construction costs budgeted 10 years ago have increased by 50%..Why?..Have you seen the obscene price tag on any of these projects?..Any fool know that the profit margin is outrageous..And why don't market forces and competitive bids bring costs back to reality?..Tell me..And don't say Kokosing's R&D will suffer and diminished highway quality will result and put drivers at risk..Please don't

MAybe we should consider this..our elected hand to industries..including drug...millions in help funds for advanements in knowledge..since drug companies in particular want to continue to increase their profits..then let them spend just their own money of the developement of these drugs. Cut all funding to any company that would rathwer have more in profits than do good for this country. Up till now, I have not heard of any drug CEO going without...because of keeping cost lower....this political presidental want to be ist the same as the others..to them, it is all for profits..and only profits. HAve to wonder just how may have to die for these folks to be happy.

You liberals are stupid!

1. Do you have any clue how long it takes to developed a drug from a concept till it's on the shelf?

2. Do you have any idea of the how much that costs?

3. Do you have any clue as to the amount of litigation drug companies are subject to?

Go ahead, remove profit from drugs, what we have now is all you'll get. Otherwise start your own drug company and make yourselves as rich or poor as you please.

The Republican plan to combat poverty: kill them with high priced medicine and prevent any attempts at helping them get insurance. Plain and simple.

Very little is spent by drug companies on R&D any longer. Look up your information before jumping in over your head. Current estimates are 50-70 million on average for each drug. By comparison, they spent 262 million to lobby our government during the 1999-2000 period to keep the GAO from being able to look at their R&D books. If they have nothing to hide, why will they not release the books?

Yes, I do know how much that costs, see above. They also receive generous R&D tax credits. A tax credit is far different from an expense deduction as it subtracts directly from tax, whereas an expense simply reduces taxable income. The difference is that you get a 100% deduction from taxes, with a credit, but only the tax rate deduction, lets say 30%, for an expense.

Recent figures also show that the the top 9 drug companies spend double the R&D amount on marketing and advertising. Additionally, their net profit, as a percent of revenue, is approximately the sum of both the marketing and r&d costs put together.

With regard to litigation, please refer to the 17% net profit drug companies are reporting. Ask around and I think you will find that any local company would drool over the prospect of a 17% net profit.

I will tell you that drug industry puts a lot of money into the base for the drugs. You get the same drug dose in the generics, but if the base formula isn't quite right, the drug may not work as effectively. You get what you pay for in the end.

And if you can't afford to pay for it you die. Simple solution for you, right? Everyone should have all the healthcare they can afford.

Go ahead, remove profit from drugs, what we have now is all you'll get. Otherwise start your own drug company and make yourselves as rich or poor as you please.

And they talk about compassionate conservatives!

Limit prices. they watch research slow to a stop. Already certain drugs are getting impossible to find on the market. Wait when they limit prices. They watch everyone cry about it.

Free market. Don't like the price? don't buy it. Use something else. Most of these drugs are pushed on patients by doctors looking for increased profits.

Ok...this confirms it...Rick Santorum IS in fact mentally challenged (as are you hardtostarboard)! I have acquaintances that work for the drug companies and I can assure you...they laugh all the way to the bank! Drug companies are mega-profit mongers...what a scam they run. Green Day's "American Idiot" is fully applicable here. Wake up people!!!!

An iPad is a luxury; medicines are a necessity. When people complain about drug prices, they're usual have to take many medicines.

Some elderly, fixed incomes, have to choose between medicines and foods. Many skip doses or cut pills in half to make it.

Santorum is catering to the big drug companies who don't want the government to get involved.

By the way, those who claim that the high cost of drugs supports research are wrong. First, much of the research is done at NIH first and then transferred to drug companies. In fact, 40 of the top 45 drugs got their start at NIH (so, the American people are paying twice for their drugs). Second, drugs companies have found that by changing one molecule, they are granted another 20 year patent (so Ambien became Ambien CR, etc.). There is no real incentive to make new drugs when they can just re constitute old ones. In fact, there is real concern that there are no great breakthrough drugs in the pipeline anymore.

By the way, those who claim that America's drug industry is the leader in drug creation don't want you to know that bout 50% of drugs are developed in Europe--so high costs are unnecessary to develop new, effective drugs.

Medical care has NEVER followed the rules of the free market. WHY? The free market depends on knowledge to make a choice. Medicine isn't a choice but a necessity. Most people don't have enough medical knowledge to choose between one drug vs. another.

Following Santorum's logic, then why do we regulate utilities. I am sure that they could make the same research and development arguments that pharmeuceutical companies make.

If drug companies paid less (or nothing) for lobbying, kickbacks to medical professionals, and crazy insanely expensive marketing ploys, there would be plenty of money for research and still room to sell necessary drugs for a reasonable amount of money that the average 99%-er could pay for. It is reprehensible that life-saving drugs priced beyond the reach of many who desperately need them are the source of so much profit for so few. Un-Christianlike, un-democratic (not in a patisan sense) and Un-American. Shame on all of you defending Santorum's comment, the sentiment behind it, and making excuses for drug companies. If faced with the choices so many Americans have to make yourselves, you would be singing a very different tune.

So Ray are you saying a 17% is too much? Your entitled to you opinion but that wouldn't even come close to my definition of excessive. Furthermore if you don't like profits then I suggest to align your 401k and stock portfolio with companies that barely brake even, I mean hey if profits are bad that what I'd do.

hardsto - doubt the 17% profit is an accurate picture of the real profits. And no, there are no pharmaceuticals or big oil in my 401K, but I'm still doing ok. For some of us, the ethics of our investments is more important than the greed.

There are many, many people who have trouble paying for their prescriptions (with or without insurance) who also DO NOT buy iphones or other high tech items. The bottom line is that the mark up on drugs is sometimes 200% or more depending on the drug. I go for generic drugs at all times. If a generic is not available and I can't afford the name brand, I have the pharmacy call my doctor to find an alternate, more affordable choice if it's something I really need. Otherwise, I opt out of taking an overpriced drug that I don't have to have. If more people would do this, I guarantee you that the drug companies would be lowering their prices. Seventy dollars for a tiny tube of cream for a skin rash will never be bought by people who use logic & reason when it comes to their health care choices.

if you dont have the millions to invest in pharmacutical drug companies making outrageous profits- "blame yourself". ha! cant wait to see all you jokers with your head stuck up on poles in a few years.

There is not a single IPad costing $900, but fine we will go with that. If drugs cost $200 a month, it would not be as much of an issue, there are drugs that cost $20,000 to $100,000 a year. That is ~$1600 - $8000 A MONTH. I am pretty sure people aren't buying 2 -10 IPads every month.

The second problem, is many times, people are taking multiple medications at a time. So even that $200 a month can become $400 or $600 a month. Forget an IPad, you can buy an expensive car for that price.

Medical costs are ridiculous and need to be curbed.

...government getting involved in offsetting the cost of drug prices.

Where does Santorum stand on the USA subsidizing the rest of the world? And once the R&D cost is recouped (when generics become available), there is no reason for Big Pharma or any business (Bain Capital) to make outrageous profits, especially from the suffering of others. All industries need regulation for fair practices (like your cable company, bank, etc.) and why anyone can't see this is mind bending.

Also, insurance companies can negotiate on behalf of their insured, which is just as applicable to Medicare/Medicaid (or any group including organized labor, etc.). Yes, negotiate with Big Pharma, hospitals, clinics and doctors for reasonable profit margin. Since it is immoral to profit from the sick, really all this should be non-profit and administered by the government.

All the pro-life candidates and voters, stand up for life beyond the fetus for once.

pharmaceutical companies outspend marketing vs. R&D by 3 to 1. furthermore, most significant breakthroughs in, not only pharmaceutics, but also medical, happen in university hospitals or other government funded research efforts.

so tell me: how much more incentive do we need to give to the pharmaceutical and medical industries?

ugh. i feel nauseated just from acknowledging they are industries. healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. people shouldnt be making profits off of other people's need to have a healthy life.

Magnificent..., obviously if your investments are doing good, (good for you) then you are invested in companies that are making substantial profits, how else would the share price be going up otherwise? By the way, oil companies make around 8%, again hardly excessive by any measure.

Wake up you people! Profits are not a bad thing. Profits make it possible for us to have jobs. Profits drive competition from others who want a piece of the action (think personal computers). Over the past 20 years did profits and competition drive the cost of PCs up or down, make them better or worse? Obama and the democrats have taken us in exactly the wrong direction. Not only did Obama fail to get the car back on the road, (notice I do not blame him for putting it in the ditch) now he's driving it towards a cliff, fast, all the while still driving in the ditch. Obama's plan to redistribute wealth will not just fail but fail so spectacularly as to drive our own country to the brink of civil war.

hardto - 8% for oil companies? That is not anywhere near accurate. I have worked in the restaurant business for many years. If a restaurant, with perishable overhead (food) and other costs never event thought of by other companies operate at 20-25%, you cannot make a case for big oil to operate at 8%. I live in Alaska, maybe have a different perspective on that industry. Maybe 8% "profit" AFTER huge payouts to execs and major stockholders, but those payouts are from profit, based on profit. There is NO reasonable defense for drug companies or big fossil fuel producers.

Santorum's confused (yes, really!) He's confusing university research with drug company research. The government pays for many medical breakthroughs through grants to universities. The universities' motivation is coming up with more breakthroughs, which in turn will assure more research money from the government.

As drug companies are in it solely for profit, their motivation is to get the drugs passed through the FDA trials as quickly as possible and on the market. The real test of the drugs' effectiveness comes when they're unleashed on the public for a few years and the reports of complications and deaths start to stream in. In the time it takes for that to happen and the drugs are taken off the market, they've already made up the R&D and advertising costs. The ones who are against controls on drug prices are the ones who also want continued tax breaks for the oil companies and as much return on their investment as possible, at the public's expense (another commenter mentioned Enron, which is an accurate comparison). In other words, those who invest, don't work for a living, and have no sympathy for those who do.

Why was BrianB's at 1.17 collapsed -- there was nothing wrong w/ it and he is entitled to express his opinion. Have you a**s forgotten about free speech. You make me sick !!!

There is not a single IPad costing $900

Mine cost right close to it, but I didn't comparison shop -- just picked one up at Best Buy.

Anyway, Santorum has a personal situation that could benefit from drug research, so his personal bias is understandable. However, we need leaders who are capable of rising above self-interest, and his position proves that he is not. Out. Next.

Why do none of these people offer ideas to solve the problems rather than pander to division of the country? We need both drug research AND affordable drugs. It does no good for one guy to scream "We need affordable drugs," and the other guy to scream, "We need drug research."

We need to protect unborn children AND we need for women to have a way to stop an unwanted pregnancy. We need employees to have rights AND we need people to have the right to work without being forced to pay protectionism.

Most of all, we need leaders with IDEAS about how to meet needs that are INCLUSIVE rather than how one side can win over the other. And we need to just say NO to any politician who doesn't understand how to successfully lead a large group of diverse people.

Pharma has a big, RICH, powerful lobby.

They donate huge amounts of money to senate and congress members to keep things as is ..look what happened to us when the financial institutions did the same thing .The value of your stock and house went down the crapper ! Just so a few could make higher profits .

Seriously, wasn't there some sci-fi movie about the rich only being able to afford drugs? Wish I could remember..........

Wonder what JESUS charged to heal people....since Santorum is after all a christian first and an American second.

So, now it's buy a tablet and die happy????

We The... Christians are only christian to others who are christian and in there class. There are no poor Christians because god will take care of them as he does with the sick. Good thing there are Humanist and Atheist around to at least try and keep them honest. Failing that we can have a good laugh.

PAQ - this is not a Christian vs non-Christian thing. It is about understanding how the invisible hand of economics work.

Each person puts the priorities of life in a different order depending upon priorities of the moment. Our society has shifted to pursuits of enjoyable toys, because somewhere we believe that someone else will take care of our needs. Who do you think people turn to when their priorities get skewed?

Insurance was only supposed to help us when emergencies have occurred. We turned it into a medical prepay system that is dependent upon people going to get medical only when truly necessary. But because the money isn't directly coming out of our pocket, we enlist services needlessly, and then get upset when insurance drags it's feet to pay for an excess demand which you really weren't paying for in the calculated premium. What's it matter to the person because the insurance company surely is bringing more than enough money. They must be getting huge profits.

DB Akron/This is not about economics,nor the putting priorities in order. This is about advancing our standard of living.In the olden days a person walked to work,produced goods by hand and lived a poorer life,living for about forty years.For about 20% of the population, the length of life and standards has risen. It is not too much to expect that it should be advancing for all.

Capitalism IS the difference between us an Europe - Capitalism is why we have the medical advancement we have.

A person who walks to is healthier. My brother has asthma. For a couple of years he worked in downtown Pittsburgh. He was too cheap to pay for the $10 lot by his workplace in Pittsburgh, so he walked 1 1/2 miles each way to pay $1 or $2 for parking. He never got sick those two years.

When someone sees the opportunity to make a profit they move in. If there is money to be made several move in and produce similar products for a lower price. The low price wins every time - why do you think so many people shop at Wal*Mart.

Emergency rooms have a tendency to charge $500 (that you pay) and waiting time can be hours. So little Critical care places popped up all over places and charge $75 - $150.

Obviously you haven't seen the TV comercials for cholesteral, diabetes, and many others. That is many companies moving in to provide competitive products which lowers the price to you.

The products eventually get off the patents and when they do the same drugs cost even less.

I picked up generic zyrtec recently. For half the price of the name brand, I got 3 times the quanity.

Government should stay out of private industry. Maybe they should cap ther $125 an hour my plumber wants to charge.

I picked up generic zyrtec recently. For half the price of the name brand, I got 3 times the quanity.

And when generics don't work? My doctors struggled for 4 years to get my blood pressure below 200 with generics. Only $5 a month for a generic. None of them worked. Finally prescribed a combination of 2 brand name drugs, and now it's 126. But each monthly prescription now costs me $155.

And my insurance won't pay for them because neither are in their formulary. I can afford it now because I'm working. But Medicare won't cover them when I retire, so I guess I just have to die.

Death panels. Gotta love 'em.

DB Akron - as long as pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies are protected by special rules set up by and protected by the federal government, they are not subject to the whims of free market and capitalism. If we are lucky enough to have jobs with companies that continue to offer health insurance as a benefit, many people can't afford the employee share of the costs. The price of insurance purchased on your own is outrageous and not affordable to the majority of people. I am not going to write a long post because you are obviously of the Mitt Romney class and you have no experience being one of the working poor. Only those who have truly experienced hardship and what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck can understand what over 90% of Americans are feeling. Adjectives con't exist in English strong enough to describe how heinous it is that the Republicans are trying to strip Obama's health care reforms denying so many millions of Americans access to even the most basic health care. Sick, sick society we have become. The Republicans bang their drums and cry about how horrible it is to make sure all Americans have equal access to medical care at a reasonable cost to the individuals and to taxpayers.

To R. Scalzo - yes government probably should stay out of private industry. Then government must stop protecting insurance companies, drug companies, oil producers, all energy producers, agriculture, and all industries that currently have special exemptions and rules. There would be some pissed off lobbyists and some very angry Republican representatives, but the "free market" could do its dirtiest. Imagine if the price of oil were honestly competitive?

Oh, the actual practice of "government out of business" was last practiced by Herbert Hoover, I believe. That went well, didn't it.

anti,

My hubby is a supervisor at our hospital. He loves it when he hears the docs talking about the patients thinking they need the latest drug they have seen advertised (or they have the disease the ad referred to). These ads are a menace.

you know,

Watching those adds, why would anyone want to take that crap given all the side effects?

Those adds do not help sell those drugs but just raise fear to higher levels...

Egilman,

If the disease doesn't kill you, the side effects will!

I think those ads to help sell those drugs. When your doctor tells you that you don't need the drug that the TV says you need, you can always find another doctor who is willing to charge you $100 to prescribe it for you.

Jon,

That's what the docs at the hospital were complaining about!

Jon,

Look at all those administrative costs! you think they just eat those?

the Doc's might not like it, but the Hospitals and insurance co's just LOVE it!

Egilman,

I don't know about the insurance companies, but the hospital that the hubby works at is not real fond of those costs!

Many doctors push these "new" more expensive drugs. Ever sit in a waiting room as the "drug pushers" come in with "lunch" and "goodies" for the office staff? Well they do not do that out of kindness. It heavily influences the doctors to push the latest drugs. Doctors are happy, big Pharma is happy and the consumer pays for it all.

For anti-trust proponent at #3 & Egilman at #3.2 - - some of us take those drugs with horrible side-effects in order to function and stay out of a wheelchair. Healthy living and natural remedies don't fix some things. But when some needed medicines are $2,000.00 per month and insurance rates keep increasing, or people have pre-existing conditions and can't get insurance, it does make one think about turning to Medicaid or the prison system for health care! And you might want to research drug SHORTAGES, so people can't even fill a prescriptions at times.

Big pharma also loves to buy folks in Washington!

pog8,

The point of both Anti and I was that we, AMERICANS are paying about ten times our fair share for all those R&D costs, why, because we are a captive market, with the givernment's FDA acting as the industry protector.

We know that there are some people that need the drugs they produce, but they need to spread that cost out to the rest of the world and let competition in the world market drive down prices....

Or, let some of those other international companies get their hands on them and reproduce them at much cheaper prices. Not that I am for piracy or patent infringement, but the markets are being artificially manipulated, to Americans detriment.

In fact, it is illegal for drug companies to sell their products made here at lower price in foreign countries than in the US. Under trade agreements that our Senate has approved, and therefore have the same standing as US laws, that meets the official definition of dumping. Of course, foreign countries are not stupid enough to complain, unless it would give one of our companies an unfair advantage over a local firm. If our elected officials had the well being of our people in mind, rather than that of the drug companies, they could easily drive down prices by just enforcing our anti-dumping laws. They could just let other countries negotiate the prices and then make sure they don't get an extra penny in the US.

And then months later you see the 1-800-bad-drug ads from all the ambulance chasers...with the added warning from the fda about how bad the drug is. No research is being done anymore...it's as though they are making bathtub drugs and just pushing them on people. Things are really out of hand and I'm really stunned that the American people are not pissed enough yet to being a revolution and replace this corrupt government.

In the U.K. I'm to understand that the cost for your meds...regardless if it is for 1 or 3 months or the type of drug you need...the cost is around $10-$15. Just one of the ones I was taking for one month was $400.

And my 89 y/o mother stopped taking all of her meds finally.....she said she didn't want any more of the side effects. She died last March 20 of total renal failure. Was it maybe because of all of the drug combinations her various doctors were "experimenting" with that caused the failure? We will never know. I'm just glad that she had as long of a life as she did, even though the last three years were a challenge for her due to a speech impediment caused by brain cell loss that controlled her speech. Again, I have to wonder if maybe all the drugs she was taking for various other conditions over several decades might have caused part of that deterioration.

There are many illnesses today that are caused by our poor diets, our lack of physical exercise, environmental pollution, and other things within and beyond our control. Drugs may "help" one condition, but cause many others that I referred to above. I'd rather NOT take that chance. I'm 67 and haven't seen a doctor in years. I try to "listen" to my body and let it heal itself.......after all the word "disease" means dis-ease.....the body not in tune with itself. Correct the cause, not the symptom. There is too much of the "cut it out or drug it up" attitude in modern medicine. I had an uncle who was a funeral director and his father was a physician. He had a saying that we always laughed about, even though it wasn't really a laughing matter....."you stab them and we slab them."

It is one thing to make a profit and it is another to gouge people. As for Santorum He just showed his complete lack of respect for the American people and his loyalties to the corproations.I never did like that little weasel.

"The mother of the child yelled out that she was going bankrupt just to pay for her child to keep breathing."
So the questions above about why anyone would take a drug with side-effects struck me as simplistic, and then the mention of alternative healthcare instead seemed off topic. If Santorum had to pay even 80% of his income for insurance and drug costs for his family, he still wouldn't be close to bankruptcy. That is the disconnect.

If it's a choice between possible side-effects and death I think I'd probably opt for the side-effects.

In any case the drug manufactureres list every possible side effect, no matter how infrequent or unlikely, for reasons of possible liability. So they can say, "Well, we warned you."

I'd also throw in a bad case of pubic lice.

InPS,

We all know it is about givernment protectionism, this is why meds bought in Canada are faulty or bad batches, or not as powerful as meds bought here in the grand old USA....

Don't you just love the way the abuse everyone else in the world by selling them the bad meds to protect and serve the American Citizen?

;-0)

We older Americans buy in Canada and Mexico the same drugs that we buy in the U.S. Only a lot cheaper.Both countries have lots of pharmacies close to our borders , selling to American visitors even though the Gov insists that we should not because it is not controlled and that they only have our welfare at heart.

I love my $38.00 a month (including shipping) generic Advair that I get from a Canadian pharmacy. It's so much better than the $220.00 name brand only that I can get in this country. And, it's even made in and shipped from Mumbai, India, just like the name brand. The pharmacy even calls me and tells me when it is time to refill my order so I don't miss any doses. And the additives that the generic has don't bother me like the additives in the name brand do. I have no nervousness at all on the generic. So screw you American pharmacies.

If we weren't to pay the higher prices here in the US, then those drugs would NOT be $.40 in other countries. We are subsidizing the poorer countries. Some may say that's a bad thing...but considering that we in America...even the poor...are far wealthier than a vast majority of the rest of the world, it makes sense. American companies invest billions of dollars in doing drug research. That money has to come from somewhere. Americans can USUALLY afford it.

Listen, I'm alive today because of the drug companies. I live because of an insulin pump and development of insulin analogs. I spend a pretty penny to stay alive. Those profits go to companies that are developing OTHER drugs for future generations. My insulin pump, in fact, is affordable because of the high prices someone paid for medical products the company sold a couple decades ago that financed the development of my pump.

I KNEW I was going to have to live with an expensive disease when I was young, so I made sure I worked hard to obtain a job that could pay for me to live.

Santorum is 100% correct in his analysis of this situation, as unpopular as the position may be. Everyone wants something for (next-to-)nothing. But it isn't possible.

INTREPID,

this is why we need to elect someone out of the box...

Not beholden to special interests especially the medical care lobby.....

There is only one that is out of the box and understands the medical care lobby issue.....

Egilman, until there is complete reform of fund raising for election campaigns, there will never be anyone "out of the box" not tied to one lobbyist or another. The people are 100% responsible for allowing the campaign finance issue get as big as it is. Bad things are enacted because we the people vote not with our heads but with our biases. The Supreme Court stacked with ultra-conservatives stripped the last regulation away. Go Conservatives! You know not what you do....

Northstar,

I'm sorry, it's not a strawman argument, it a downright damn dirty LIE, and the real insult to the citizens is that he KNOWS it to be a lie...

Go buy the Chiese version. worked well for dog food and sheet rock.

David,

There are quite a few Democrats that love the filthy rich also...

What we need is Givernment out of Medicine and take the damn insurance monopolies and trusts with them!

Magic words there, Egilman, insurance monopolies. (This is where we need Ideology to jump in the conversation - his perspective would be quite helpful)

Except, when you take the government out, all you will be left with is the insurance and pharma monopolies. Government is the people. And the people together represent a market so huge that they can dictate prices and make the systme more efficient. As in, since Medicaire is the largest single purchaser of drugs, they can negotiate a fair price, the way the Canadian health system does. But, wait, Bush and the boys made sure that wasn't possible when they passed the Medicaire Drug supplement. Thus, taking government out of the equation and leaving the monopolies to set the price.

Jon,

Exactly.... well said.

jon,

Did you miss the last part of the statement?

.....take the damn insurance monopolies and trusts with them!

Who, if not government, will take out the monopolies and trust. The Sherman Antitrust law is government. Capitalism, left to it's own devices, has always led to monopoly and big trusts, it's in in very nature to do so.

Out of curiousity, Egilman, do you follow the classical liberal type of libertarianism, or the anarchist type? I know your man Ron Paul is in the former camp, but I imagine he attracts some followers from the latter since there is no one else running.

One of the reasons the colonists were ready to break from England was the law that forbade the colonies from trading with any other country, only with England. The law preventing Americans from buying less expensive but comparable drugs from sources outside the US is NO different. The law is not about protecting Americans from "bad" drugs, it is about forcing Americans to purchase the inflated prices charged by drug companies because "we" can afford it. Really? And what happened to free markets, government out of our lives, you can't tell me what to buy and where, blah, blah, blah - some things are only right to the Right if they are beneficial to the Right's pockets.

by buying the canadian version at a fraction of the cost... except its against the law to buy canadian pharms

Eddie,

People do it everyday. I live in MN. People take buses of senior to Thunder Bay Ontario and they get their perscriptions filled by Candadian pharmancies.

I was just in Mexico, A friend forgot some of her heart medicine. We went to a parmencia. they looked up the drug and it took one day for the drugs to be available. They had to get it from the hospital. It cost about $20.00 UDS for a month supply. In the US it cost over $300. for the same supply. Same packaging, same color and size of pill, same company.

Pretty much everyone knows that the FDA arguments about the out of country drugs are not the same as in country drugs is bull@!$%# protectionism of the pharma industries and their willing accomplices the insurance monopolies...

The only ones that seem not to know this are our bought and paid for Congresspeople.

northstar, must be great for the people who live at the borders, or just happen to be travelling in the country... but im talking more along the lines of pharmacies in the US stocking up on foriegn medicine, you know for peopel who cant afford to travel, or live at the border.

EddieisFiction,

Back a few years ago when this hit the airwaves as a big scandal, a deal was struck between the parmacies and the governments FDA. The FDA would allow the border and mail order pharmacies to get drugs across the border but the pharmacies in the interior of the country were banned from doing it.

As far as I am concerned it is still a REAL scandal and one of the reasons the FDA needs to be cut and the good thing transferred to a much slimmer and leaner agency that is banned from the lobbyists...

Much like what Dr Paul wants to do...

Eddie,

You are right. We the people are not served by our govenment in regulating fair pricing for drugs in the US.

And this thread shows a former comgresman and senator that is so out of touch with the everyday concerns of families and their heathcare options and the choices we make for our families.

I buy my meds via mail order from the UK. 1 months supply - $90.00. Here in the US - $298.00 same pills, same manufacturer

Northstar,

I travel to Tijuana when I need a prescription filled. I kid you not,there is a pharmacy on every block.

thetotas,

I believe you. My aunt and uncle winter near Brownsville Texas. A lot of retired farmers from the MidWest. They make trips across the border to buy their medications, again they are cheapers. These farmers know how to stretch a penny .

Pharmacies in Mexico are on every block of every resort town I have ever been in.

I would do the same thing. Luckily, I am not on any medication , but I think it will only be a matter of time.

Unfortunately I live in the middle of the country, so driving to either Canada or Mexico isn't really an option for me.

AlaskaForum,

Retired elected officials at every level of government get life time heath insurance and so do their spouses and children until adults. It is part of their retirement package. Most qualify after five years of being in office.

Palin's "Death Panel" is a reality - it is called the Republican Party. If you can afford health care and medicine you get to live. If you can't, you deserve to die. Palin got the death panel part correct, she just pointed her finger at the wrong side of the aisle.

Some health care companies now have the highest fines ever paid for fraud, surpassing the defense industry. They also have some of the highest paid CEO's. Some drug companies are spending more on advertising. Yet their funding for R&D is going down. Santorum is not worth thinking about.

2008, 2009 Democrats had 100% control, why didn't we do better as a nation then?

Historically, the nation does best when the Congress is in one party's hands and the presidency is in the other parties hands, or in some manner split so nothing too radical gets through. Our problem today is the radicals in both of the parties have seniority and until they are gone nothing from either party is going to change. AND the money changers need to be banned from congress.

Are we talking about how well things worked out for us when Bush and the Repubs had it all between 2002 and 2006. Seems to me that was when the gave all the power to Wall Street and Rich and let the pharmacy industrial complex decide how much our lives were worth.

By the way, How come they didn't fix your abortion issue back then?

Easy for Rick 'google' Santorum to say. He has the best healthcare plan taxpayers money can buy. He doesn't ever need to worry about the cost of a drug or treatment.

And Rick I'm pretty sure the 'free market' idea only works if there are people to buy the product. If they all die becuase they cann't afford a drug, I don't think that drug will make them any profit.

Egilman, they did try with the healthcare bill, did you miss that one? only problem is the blood sucking republicans have been doing nothing else but trying to repeal it ever since.

No new ideas to put into its place, just get rid of it and go back the Insurance Companies rationing the healthcare.

Yes Egilman, all the worlds woes are caused by democrats smh....