NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE US.
A scary article appeared in the New York Times, yesterday.
The fungus that killed her, Candida Auris, has a frightening ability to mutate and develop resistance to any drug deployed against it. The Times wrote: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly half of people who contract the illness die within 90 days.
This is scary enough. Even scarier is the likelihood, if we judge by Ezekiel J. Emanuel's recent article in The Atlantic Monthly -- that Big Pharma doesn't intend to anything about it.
Big Pharma’s Go-To Defense of Soaring Drug Prices Doesn’t Add Up
Why? According to Emanuel, Pharmaceutical manufacturers would rather concentrate on anti-cancer medications, which make much more money for them -- even though they may extend life only for a few weeks:
This is scary enough. Even scarier is the likelihood, if we judge by Ezekiel J. Emanuel's recent article in The Atlantic Monthly -- that Big Pharma doesn't intend to anything about it.
Big Pharma’s Go-To Defense of Soaring Drug Prices Doesn’t Add Up
Why? According to Emanuel, Pharmaceutical manufacturers would rather concentrate on anti-cancer medications, which make much more money for them -- even though they may extend life only for a few weeks:
Consider antibiotics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks antibiotic-resistant infections as one of the nation’s top health threats. An estimated 2 million Americans become infected with such bacteria each year, and 23,000 die. A superbug that is resistant to all known antibiotics is an imminent threat. Yet because antibiotics are generally cheap, for most pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies they are not a primary focus. The Pew Charitable Trusts reports that only about 41 new antibiotics with the potential to treat serious bacterial infections were in clinical development for the U.S. market in March 2017.
If disease resistant microbes do not present as rosy a profit picture as cancer drugs, what chance have we to expect development of a drug to combat a disease resistant fungus whose main victims seem to be the aged, and those with compromised immune systems?
Once again, the possibilities for big profits trump -- forgive the expression -- the public good. Big Pharma is sitting in the catbird seat -- granted monopolistic rights by our government, which has ruled that Medicare may NOT negotiate prices with drug makers. They can charge whatever they want -- and they do. An indecent number of our legislators have been bought and paid for by the medical-industrial establishment. Do you suppose that these bought-and-paid-for lawmakers want to harm the geese that lay for them so many golden eggs? Don't hold your breath waiting.
Speaking of eggs, the time is coming for Easter and Passover, when we recall the miraculous events heralding salvation -- the Hebrew people being rescued from a cruel despot who thinks he's God, and -- millennia later -- Jesus' rising from the tomb. I know more about the former tradition, being raised in it. What interests me is that God remembered His promise to the Israelites only when they, as one person, cried out to Him because of their pain. Before that, apparently, they thought that their enslavement was the natural order of things, just as many of us today are content to put up with the chancy corporate insurance that makes us afraid to leave our current employment -- making us, in effect, wage slaves.
What can free our healthcare from the cruel tyranny of profits? I wouldn't count on any supernatural occurrences. But if we all, every man, woman, and child, could rise up and cry out as one person: ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT -- WE WON'T TAKE IT ANY MORE! -- that would be miracle enough, and it just might do it.
I wish a sweet Passover to those for whom, like me, it is meaningful, and to my Christian friends, a happy Easter. May all our deeds bring blessing.
Dio
PS: If you'd like to leave a comment -- and I encourage you to do so -- simply click on the "number of comments" area, and share your thoughts in the "comment rectangle" that appears.
PPS: We know that there are plenty out there who have stories to tell -- stories of your trying to cope with our dysfunctional healthcare system. Trouble is, we don't know what these stories are! That's where you come in. If you have a story to tell, you can email me at indivisible12401@gmail.com. You can be as anonymous as you like. Thanks!
PPS: We know that there are plenty out there who have stories to tell -- stories of your trying to cope with our dysfunctional healthcare system. Trouble is, we don't know what these stories are! That's where you come in. If you have a story to tell, you can email me at indivisible12401@gmail.com. You can be as anonymous as you like. Thanks!
