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Who?: Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
What?: Immediate massive production of Avian Flu vaccine.
Why?: To prevent possible millions upon millions of deaths in the event of an epidemic.
Where?: Worldwide.
When?: As soon as PhRMA can persuade the federal government to pick up the tab to subsidize pharmaceutical manufacturers’ usual 18% profit margins or until hell freezes over.
How?: By using its firmly entrenched, all-encompassing, overwhelming lobbying influence on members of Congress and the medical profession.
SOME SOLUTIONS:
1. Strict government regulations and controls that would eliminate the pharmaceutical industry’s undue influence on members of Congress and the medical profession. A good start would be legislation that would prevent members of Congress from lobbying for the industry for a period of three years after they leave office.
2. A complete overhaul of the incomprehensible 2004 Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act.
3. At the very least, repeal of provisions in the Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act that specifically prohibit Medicare from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies. The savings from this alone would free up many billions of government dollars to stockpile flu vaccines.
4. Banning the industry’s self-serving direct-to-consumer advertising of Rx drugs. The cost of advertising vs. the benefits of advertising weighs overwhelmingly on the side of costs (advertising and promotion are estimated to represent about 37% of the price of Rx drugs). Again, this enormous waste of our government’s precious health care dollars could better be spent stockpiling flu vaccines and still provide considerably lower drug prices.
5. Elimination of all special tax privileges in the tax code that give pharmaceutical companies their license to plunder the treasury. The pharmaceutical industry can not have it both ways. If they want unfettered free enterprise, then they can’t expect government to enact special legislation to ‘protect’ them and their profits.
What?: Immediate massive production of Avian Flu vaccine.
Why?: To prevent possible millions upon millions of deaths in the event of an epidemic.
Where?: Worldwide.
When?: As soon as PhRMA can persuade the federal government to pick up the tab to subsidize pharmaceutical manufacturers’ usual 18% profit margins or until hell freezes over.
How?: By using its firmly entrenched, all-encompassing, overwhelming lobbying influence on members of Congress and the medical profession.
SOME SOLUTIONS:
1. Strict government regulations and controls that would eliminate the pharmaceutical industry’s undue influence on members of Congress and the medical profession. A good start would be legislation that would prevent members of Congress from lobbying for the industry for a period of three years after they leave office.
2. A complete overhaul of the incomprehensible 2004 Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act.
3. At the very least, repeal of provisions in the Medicare Modernization and Improvement Act that specifically prohibit Medicare from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies. The savings from this alone would free up many billions of government dollars to stockpile flu vaccines.
4. Banning the industry’s self-serving direct-to-consumer advertising of Rx drugs. The cost of advertising vs. the benefits of advertising weighs overwhelmingly on the side of costs (advertising and promotion are estimated to represent about 37% of the price of Rx drugs). Again, this enormous waste of our government’s precious health care dollars could better be spent stockpiling flu vaccines and still provide considerably lower drug prices.
5. Elimination of all special tax privileges in the tax code that give pharmaceutical companies their license to plunder the treasury. The pharmaceutical industry can not have it both ways. If they want unfettered free enterprise, then they can’t expect government to enact special legislation to ‘protect’ them and their profits.