HOW TO LOSE SLEEP

It's quarter-to-one Monday morning, December 10th. I should be in bed, fast asleep. But I just read an article in the Washington Post entitled INVESTIGATION OF GENERIC 'CARTEL' EXPANDS TO 300 DRUGS.  Here's the link to it:

Generic drug price-fixing investigation expands to 300 drugs and 16 companies

I advise you not to read it unless you don't mind becoming very angry. That's what happened to me -- so much so, that my blood seemed to boil, and there was no way I could sleep without getting this post out. 

You see, like many of us, I had naively supposed that generic drugs were supposed to be significantly less expensive than the brand-name versions whose patent had expired. That's why the generic program had been created, I thought: To give other pharmaceutical outfits a chance -- once a patent had expired on a drug -- to compete with others to manufacture these drugs at a lower price. 

But now, with this Washington Post article, I learn that these pharmaceutical manufacturers meet and conspire to fix prices. They have their own little euphemisms: "The Sandbox" is the market-place where all the generic manufacturers are expected to "play nice" and not charge any less than the agreed-upon inflated price. "Fair Share" means divvying up the sales pie of so each of the companies can continue making money, and "Trashing the Market" refers to a company's refusing to abide by the unwritten rules and selling for lower than the prices the group has agreed upon.  And I learn that just as there is honor among thieves,  there is a code that everyone tries to abide by: LET NONE OF OUR AGREEMENTS BE COMMITTED TO WRITING!

This activity was known for a few years, and lawsuits were already in progress,  but when a Federal Judge recently ruled that more than a million emails. cell phone texts, and other documents could be shared among all the plaintiffs, and ...

What started as an antitrust lawsuit brought by states over just two drugs in 2016 has exploded into an investigation of alleged price-fixing involving at least 16 companies and 300 drugs, Joseph Nielsen, an assistant attorney general and antitrust investigator in Connecticut who has been a leading force in the probe, said in an interview.... “This is most likely the largest cartel in the history of the United States,” he said. 

The result is that long-standing out-of-patent medicines like Albuterol, which not long ago sold  for 13 cents a tablet, now sells for "more than $4.70." That's more than a 3400 percent increase. And the cartel does this not because there's been some impediment in the supply, as some of us had foolishly supposed.  No. They do it simply because they feel like it. To explain this behavior Neilson offered a single word:

(Emphasis mine.) 

Who pays for this? Everyone pays, singularly and collectively, whether we're on Medicare, regular insurance, or simply pay taxes, we pay through the nose.

Now many of  these profiteers' shenanigans, though ethically dubious, are perfectly legal. But conspiring to fix prices is -- much to the annoyance of these pharmaceutical pirates --  against the law. When this is pointed out to these folks, they proclaim with one voice: Try and Prove It!

(I'm not kidding, that's what they say.) Well, some dedicated prosecutors are trying to do just that -- prove it. Lets wish them luck. 

Let's do more than that: Let's channel our anger by telling  everyone we meet that ripping off the public in this way is downright UNAMERICAN -- sanctity of profits notwithstanding -- and must be resisted by reforming healthcare in this country to something that is NOT driven by the profit motive. 

That's what I'm trying to do by sharing this blog. And if all of you who read this will indeed share the word, rouse the anger, and SPREAD it, then I will be able to sleep tonight,

Goodnight!

Dio

PS: If you'd like to comment (and I hope you will), simply click on the number of comments area, and a "comment box" will appear in which you can share your views. Don't be afraid to teach me something!  Thanks to your comments, I'm learning all the time.