Payments are legal but reveal pharmaceutical marketing tactics
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.com17,000 doctors cash in drug company money, report finds
Seeded on Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:00 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
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SO, This is not new we all know it's been going on for a long time.
They are also huge donors for mandatory health coverage, and those that will enforce it into law. (Like Congress)
Is it surpising to anyone that premiums are going up?
I think premiums are going up because they want to fuel the anger of the Tea Party.
It's just marketing. Every business does it.
You're right- everyone does do it. Doesn't make it any more ethical, though does it.
But ALOT more profitable.
#10.6
Every other business doesn't have products that produce side effects, which may include death.... or products which can be highly addictive (obviously not counting alcohol and nicotine)...
How did we ever survive before without all the thousands of mircle prescription drugs pushed on us, and paid for by insurance companies... It's a corrupt menage a trois with Big Pharmaceutical companies, Insurance companies, and the US Government... making billions off of drugs that cost pennies to make... while people die, or become addicts, and our insurance rates grow exponentially.
V, people many lead unhealthy lives... This has little to do with a conspiracy, rather more to do with poor eating habits, little exercise, among other things. Maybe long ago when people had to farm and do more physical work things where somewhat better, but some things are just natural.
Then either change the unhealthy life, or let the unhealthy person suffer the consequences of their lifestyle... It makes me wonder what effect interjecting all these "antidotes" may have on the evolutionary process... unhealthy people living longer and longer, reproducing and passing on their bad health and bad lifestyles...
People also had much shorter lifespans. So now, despite the sad state of affairs we have today, we do live longer, and on average, we live healthier too.
"Playola", or rather "Pill-ola", and it's been going on for years!! Back room payments for pill pushing!!
Ever wonder why GERD became so popular to diagnose and treat back a few years ago? All the new pharma pills for it and all the cash donations to doctors for each prescription written.
This needs to be outlawed or at least put out in an open report showing per doctor, how much $$$$ each has taken in from every drug company or other "interested party"!! This is literally sticking themselves right in the middle between you and your doctor.
Without the graft, how much LESS could medications cost???
Plus, all the TV ads. And then most doctors want to cry about their poverty these days.
I saw an ad just last night for a gout medication. My first thought was, who the hell has gout these days?!
now that is shocking ...
As if Doctors really get into this business to help people. It's all about the MOO-LA!
Oh really? What shocking news!
So all a doctor has to do is write prescriptions for the costliest, newest drugs to the gullible and pill loving public.
I've watched this scam perpetuated particularly on the elderly or anyone on medicare/medicaid or certain insurance plans. I've had patients who ingest dozens of questionable medications a day. Often pureed in baby food.
Ok, raise your hand if you STILL think our healthcare system doesn't need reform, top to bottom. This graft and corruption has got to stop. Imagine how much less healthcare would cost if the corruption was weeded out. Our entire system is totally screwed up. People cannot afford healthcare, or can't get healthcare because they can't get insurance. Get the influence peddlers out of the calculation and see how much the cost of healthcare would decrease. It just makes me sick....oh damn... hope I don't need a doc anytime soon. The new healthcare bill may not be perfect but it is a start.
now you begin to see why the cost of a pill can be upwards of $5-10 each. The drug companies need to build in the cost of graft and bribery. Doctors should be ashamed of themselves too. forget the oath they take when becoming a Doc, it's all about the money, that's all.
And how exactly does the healthcare bill address this particular issue? If the drug companies are spending this money for promoting their products, what makes you think they would lower the costs for the consumer. Given the nature of business, it seems far more likely that they would spend this money towards other means of promotion or in additional corporate bonuses. Dream on.
medstud,
This healthcare bill, eviscerated and watered down as it is, does NOT address the corruption of the profit motive that's at the heart of the health care problem. It was supposed to, but wealthy business interests ensured that it does not. This healthcare bill, however, is an initial step toward the ultimate solution that will: a non-profit single-payer system that will ensure universal, cost-effective health care for all.
Those who believe the profit motive ensures quality and integrity in any system are clearly, unequivocally wrong.
Like this:
Another typical example of the rich fleecing the working class. Of course nothing will be done about it because even the law makers and judges in our system are mostly wealthy. They take care of their own, so to speak. 20% already control 80% of the money in this country. Working class has already been stripped of most of what they have. Before long the ultra wealthy will be preying on the moderate wealthy because that is all that is left to take from. There is a Revolution coming in this country, and sooner than one might think!
Nothing will be done because the drug companies not only lobby doctors, but also have vast amounts of money to lobby the FDA and Congress. The FDA should be disbanded and redone, no lobbying, no doctors or scientists that have any contact with a drug company etc. If a bad drug hits the market, the scientists and doctors that approved go to jail. Someone has to be accountable.
Why should anyone be surprised. Physicians are money grubbers and don't have a lot of ethics. Money is their god and the AMA sets the example and condones this kind of activity. Why do we think the AMA supported Obama's huge medical program? Because the physicians stand to make huge amounts of money
Everyone has a price tag, whether they know it or not.
Yeah, but some people are on sale.
...Who do you trust when everyone's a crook?
“In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught.
In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity.”
Hunter S. Thompson
Is anyone surprised? Greed knows no limits.
AstraZeneca provided the following perspective on speakers programs in an interview with our compliance officer on our corporate blog this morning:
http://www.azhealthconnections.com/azhealthconnections/2010/10/astrazeneca-and-doctor-speakers-programs.html#tp
- Tony Jewell, AstraZeneca corporate communications
More lawyer-speak. You can call it Doctor Speaker Program if you wish, but it's still paying doctors to push your company's product. And, BTW, I started to calculate how much this list totaled, since the total wasn't included in the report. For the first six month period of this year, for just the doctors whose last name begin with A (cuz I didn't have the energy to total all 72 pages), just the "A" doctors got paid a million dollars for the first six months of this year. That's quite a chunk of change in advertising!
And people who can't afford popcorn foot the bill for this in their insurance premiums and copays for pharmaceuticals that are obscenely overpriced and unavailable to a huge portion of our population.
Tony, just a word of friendly advice: not too many people really care for the pharmaceutical companies' spin on the machinations they employ to maximize their profits on our health care needs. It may be your money, but it's our lives.
This is not surprising, given that physicians are one of the few groups to consistently have a decrease in their take home salary over the last decade, due to insurance and government reimbursement cuts. Nurse's have unions and so have a least some protection, but doctors are "professional" and so can't unionize. How humorous.
That said, there is also a different breed of doctors practicing now and they are unfortunately more mercenary (from my experience) than say 20 years ago and so there is some truth that doctors have created many of these problems. However, many doctors are now employed by hospitals and so have to do what the administrators tell them to do. Administrators are just businesspersons and so will always try and maximize their profits. It is not a question of ethics anymore, as ethics don't count when it comes to maximizing profits...only the bottom line counts. Administrators usually won't admit that, but that is because they are becoming like politicians and so you can't trust what you hear them say, as they have to say what is politically correct. Yes, there are exceptions, but hospitals are now in a survival mode because of the continuing rounds of medicare cuts, bundling, etc. It is very grim. I predict that within the next 5 years we will be seeing big expose's about this and how patient care has decreased as a result.
Ironically, Obamacare has actually helped slow down this downward spiral, because in the past, the hospitals were just eating it for patients without insurance, since these patients would mostly endup having to declare bankruptcy. It is the law that hospitals have to care for these patients, but no law they will get paid for it, plus no protection from malpractice either. That is not right. So, the hospitals get the worst end of it. Very sad.
Of course, right now, the insurance companies have the best of both worlds, since they can pick the best people to insure and until Obamacare, kick off people who were too expensive. This allows insurance companies to make huge profits. However, Obamacare would change all that and make the insurance companies take both the good and the bad patients. This would shift the problem from the hospitals to the insurance companies, so no wonder they fought tooth and nail against Obamacare.
I think after the first of the year the insurance companies have to spend 85% on actual care. Some have been as low as 60%. Now they are threatening to stop insuring outright. Good! Just shows what they care about. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The best thing that could happen would be for insurance companies to get out of health care altogether. That's a huge step in the right direction.
The administration pandered to the medical profession and the pharmaceutical companies in order to get their health care reform passed. Unfortunately, this did nothing to control costs. Claiming you're fixing the system by going after the insurance companies is like having a car with 4 flat tires, fixing one and thinking you can drive off.
Actually there is no law stating that hospitals must care for patients unless they are non profit hospitals. The problem we have is that the administration has been able to paint the insurance companies as the cause of our health care problems. That is a very myopic view and does nothing to solve the problem other than raise premiums. Until medical costs are controlled health care reform does virtually nothing. As far as insurance companies making huge profits, call your state insurance department and ask them. They are the ones who approve rates based on claims and administrative costs. The American public needs to become more informed instead of relying on misinformation from the administration, the insurance companies, the medical profession and the pharmaceutical companies. We need to become responsible and quit leaving it up to someone else to fix everything.
In February 2009 I had knee replacement surgery. To this day there are times I can barely walk. Have to ice my knee down all the time. Tried calling doctor but will not return my calls. Turns out he is a paid consultant for a large company so he only used their device. Wrote the firm and was sent papers to fill out so that they could get my records from both the doctor and the hospital. It turns out that both some types of their knees and hip replacement are under a recall. Just my luck not mine. These doctors should be held accountable. Now the lawyers will fight it out. No wonder our health system is in such a mess
Don't need health care reform? HAH! They haven't gone far enough! Greed over human lives. It's the American way.
This situation should be illegal-a person needs to be able to trust their doctor implicitly. The fact that some doctors take money to recommend certain drugs is an obvious and blatant conflict of interest that should never have been allowed to occur. This needs to stop-it would likely reduce dramatically the costs of health care. Besides, how can anyone be sure under this arrangement that they actually need the meds suggested by their doctor? Is it possible that doctors tell patients that they have a condition or illness that they do not in reality have just to get money for suggesting certain drugs to them? Seems like this could undermine the doctor patient relationship in a rather big way. Can any of us now trust our doctor under these circumstances? I think not-they just want money and are not at all interested in the health of their patients-this article proves that that point of view is accurate-or appears to be accurate-which is the same thing-the appears of impropriety is the same as just plain impropriety-in either case the patient cannot trust their doctor at all anymore. Thanks AMA-you did good (for the patient) as usual! How disgusting and improper, unethical even. Does this violate their so-called Oath???? You know, the one they no longer seem to care about. That Oath!
search for your doctor #1
This isn't news and You'd have to be wearing really thick rose colored glasses to not know this has been going on a long time... Dollars for dosing
Breaking news? This is no "Big" secret, any common idiot can figure it out! Seriously, its not as if the drug reps. sneak into the Doctors office...It can't be more obvious, after you've been waiting 20 min. to see the doctor and out comes a drug rep, or even better in comes one who wlalks right back with no waiting! I have had this happen far too often, as if my time is somehow less valuable than these modern day drug pushers..Its an outrage! To make matters worse, after wasting half of your afternoon at the docs office, you are handed a prescription and sent on your way. No diagnosis, how could they give one when they spend maybe 5 minutes with you. The Doctor's treat the symptoms and really could care less if their "educated guess" is right or wrong,. You could be dying and not know until too late. I hate to tell you people, but your friendly neighborhood Pharmacist is in on it, too. The pharmacutical companies probably own your favorite pharmacy...Will things get better having gov't run health care? I wouldn't hold my breath...
There is a solution to this insanity. For starters, employers should not supply health insurance. Years ago, it was a good benefit to have, instead of paying more salary. Back then, insurance costs were one tenth of what a salary would be, course that was when there was five baby boomers for every job.
If each individual had the choice of choosing their health insurance, and negioating fees charged by doctors and hospitals, the costs would drop like a stone. That is because when the insured starts looking at the costs that they are responsible for, to be re-imbursed by the insurance companies, they take a completely different view point about costs.
Think about it. Today, the insurance companies are taking the discounts while you pay the full premium for insurance. Health insurance should be administered like auto and homeowners, but they are not because there is more money to be swindled out of each of us.
A federal health inititive is not the answer either. You think you have dishonest politians now, wait until they get their claws into that hunk of money. Sorry, that is my opinion. Have a good one.
Only 8 of the 30+ major pharmaceutical companies were asked to release their records. So 17,000 doctors is just the tip of the iceberg.
...and people are afraid of campaign financing instead of having your treatment financed.
The outside income for doctors is probably keeping insurance rates down since doctor's fees might need to be increased......
Since drug volume is also higher, the cost to make them is lower and the consumer end prices MUST be lower.....
And, since the doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, what could possibly go wrong among such well educated, ethical people??
Hey we live in a free market, capitalist, constitutional democracy with the rule of law. what possibly could go wrong?
And......... With such a wonderful and effective medical system, Please pass me the medical marijuana, I'm going to need it!