The Great God "P"
In an article on WBUR in Boston, Dr. Vikas Saini said the following:
The week before Thanksgiving, in the freezing rain, a group of patients, nurses, physicians and activists, organized by the Right Care Alliance, marched on the Sanofi drug company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sanofi had been marking up its insulin products by as much as 4,500 percent over the estimated cost of producing a single vial — and people with type 1 diabetes were starting to die. Led by grieving mothers, we carried the ashes of their children to the insulin manufacturer demanding it cut its prices.
I can imagine the bleak and desperate scene, the freezing rain and the urns full of of ashes scarcely expressing the aching hearts of the mothers whose loved ones wouldn't have had to die if it weren't for ... what?
It could almost have been a scene from a Greek-like tragedy, the chorus surging from left to right across the stage, crying out "O Great God, please stop demanding these unbearable sacrifices! -- our homes have become graveyards!"
Whereupon a priest intones solemnly:
Our God is Great,
Our God is Free,
Nothing can stop
The Great God, "P".
Who or what is this "Great God, 'P'"?
The wise ones are not sure. According to some, the ancient texts suggest that "P" means "Power," others maintain it means "Profits," while still others insist it simply means Pharmaceuticals."
"I don't care what it means!" cries a young man in the crowd, "it's all the same thing! This God must be stopped!"
Shocked, the crowd moves away from the young man,.
"What are you afraid of," he cries. If enough of you stop cowering before "P", his power is gone.
An older man, better dressed and much better fed, approaches the young man and says, "When I was your age, I felt much the same. But now I understand that the Great God "P" is what makes our country thrive, that sacrifices to Him are appropriate, even necessary."
A young woman approaches the young man and whispers, "Don't say any more, darling, they'll think you're unpatriotic."
"Do you really care what they think?" he asks her, incredulous. When it comes to healing people, the Great God "P" means POISON! When are you guys going to wake up to it?
"What d'ya want us to do?" shouts someone, "riot in the streets?"
"If it comes to that, YES!" cries the young man. "But it hasn't come to it yet. Not quite yet. First we gotta spread the word, wake each other up, so that everyone understands that they don't have to bow down to the blood-sucking vampire. Then, whoever doesn't see the problem, is part of the problem!"
"Oh God!" cries the young woman, "this is a nightmare! I wish I could wake up from it!"
And I too, I Dio, also wish I could wake up from this nightmare, which won't end, I fear, until in matters of healthcare, the Great God "P" is dead.
Dio
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"O Great God, please stop demanding these unbearable sacrifices! -- our homes have become graveyards!"
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Indeed: "this is a nightmare! I wish I could wake up from it!"
"The cost of health care has also doubled since the 1990s. Obamacare only accelerated the costs incurred by households. The Journal of the American Medical Association has reported studies suggesting that the consolidation of medical practices actually “drives up costs.” Obamacare hastened the swallowing of regional hospitals by larger health care systems. This merger frenzy has empowered hospital systems to negotiate with insurance companies. But the mergers have increased costs, eliminated competition, and created barriers to care. The upper middle class, like so many others, are absorbing the costs of this transformed landscape. Rising premiums only add to their financial burden.
Of course, the upper middle class is in a better position than most Americans."
By Charles F. McElwee III • September 13, 2018
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/who-speaks-for-the-suffering-upper-middle-class/
CLEARLY:
"First we gotta spread the word, wake each other up, so that everyone understands..."
The Commonwealth Fund
ReplyDeleteReference Pricing in Germany: Implications for U.S. Pharmaceutical Purchasing
February 4, 2019
James C. Robinson,Dimitra Panteli,and Patricia Ex
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2019/jan/reference-pricing-germany-
implications
Abstract
"Issue: The German health care system resembles that of the United States in important ways — it is financed by multiple private payers and relies principally on negotiation rather than regulation to establish prices. New drugs that offer minimal benefits compared with existing alternatives within a therapeutic class are subject to reference pricing; those with incremental benefits are subject to price negotiations. Together, the reference and negotiated pricing systems have held German prices substantially below U.S. equivalents."
These models offer an alternative to the U.S. system of tiered formularies.