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Health & Wellness

Medifraud: Available at a Pharmacy Near You

By Art Levine, The American Prospect. Posted November 2, 2007.


Unbridled profits, lax safety regulations and corporate fraud are all part of a normal day in the life of our corrupt drug industry.
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We're hearing those phrases again," declared Law and Order district attorney, former Republican senator, and presidential candidate Fred Thompson in a July 26 ABC podcast. "National health care, universal health care, socialized medicine. We're being told that government bureaucrats can take over our entire medical industry -- which, by the way, is the best and most complex in the world -- and make it better."

Ah yes, the bureaucrats. As if the problem with our current medical system is too much oversight by meddling government agents. In truth, while conservatives rail against government-run health care, our limited versions of that -- Medicaid and Medicare -- have been exploited as boondoggles by the same drug companies that have, since 2000, spent nearly $1 billion on federal and state lobbying drives as well as campaign donations given overwhelmingly to Republicans, according to the Center for Public Integrity. In return, the corporate drug dealers have gotten their money's worth: unbridled profits and lax regulation of both corporate fraud and drug safety.

And despite periodic hearings and investigative stories, the hard-sell marketing to doctors continues virtually unabated, with increasingly worrying effects. A recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that 94 percent of physicians had some type of explicit relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, a government report done in Vermont found that in 2006 drug companies gave the average psychiatrist with high drug-company earnings a bit more than $45,000 in assorted honoraria and travel expenses. The report also found that physicians who took the most payments tended, more often than other doctors, to prescribe to children "atypical antipsychotics" -- a new class of powerful medications -- although none of these drugs have FDA approval for use with kids.

The problems go far beyond aggressively peddling new drugs to doctors. If they can't widen their market legally, pharmaceutical companies are proving quite capable of defrauding government health programs by using a myriad of clever pricing and marketing scams, federal and state prosecutors have found. But the federal officials who are supposed to be fighting health scams, including the Justice Department and the lead health-care program agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), have traditionally been underfunded and outgunned by the drug companies. And despite public assertions by Bush administration officials that fighting pharmaceutical fraud is a top priority, a knowledgeable Justice Department official privately told The American Prospect, "I believe that starting in 2002 there was a conscious decision that the pendulum had swung too far towards health-care fraud enforcement. The investigative and regulatory agencies are less supportive of making the cases and more supportive of drug industry arguments."

It turns out there are good reasons we are "hearing those phrases again" from Democrats seeking to expand health-care coverage. Just as conservatives constantly demand to know whether Americans really want civil servants administering Medicare (it turns out, they do), it's time Democrats began asking -- through more hearings and in the presidential campaign -- whether Americans really want the pharmaceutical industry calling the shots.

Let's start with the easy part: pharmaceutical companies make money by selling pharmaceuticals. To make more money, they must either increase prices or increase volume, or both. And one major way drug firms increase volume is by promoting drugs for off-label use.

That's where things get complicated. While doctors are generally free to prescribe medicines for unapproved uses, companies are barred by law from promoting their drugs for such unproven purposes. But they do anyway, sometimes in completely fraudulent scams. In the last few months, fresh signs have emerged that corporate drug fraud is proliferating. Whistleblowers have come forward with new internal documents aimed at exposing alleged illegal marketing schemes by Pfizer and AstraZeneca, two companies that have previously paid nearly $900 million in whistleblower-based cases.

In 2003, AstraZeneca pled guilty to falsifying claims for the injectable prostate cancer drug Zoladex, and paid $355 million to settle charges that it defrauded Medicare and Medicaid. Among other practices, the government charged that AstraZeneca lured doctors to use the drug in the form of free Zoladex for which the doctors then billed the government. As with most pharmaceutical fraud cases, the information first emerged from tips provided by a drug-industry insider.


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If people knew what goes on in the nation's universities. . . .
Posted by: thoughtcriminal on Nov 2, 2007 12:39 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This is a great article, but there's an extra element involved here - the pharmaceutical scientific profession. These are professors and administrators at leading U.S. universities who have sold their souls and their scientific integrity to the drug corporations in exchange for a share of the profits.

Every time the drug companies promote an "independent" study tauting the benefits of their drug and downplaying any dangers, you'll always find some kind of slippery financial connection between the authors of the study, the university they work at, the editors of the scientific journal the study was published in, and the drug company itself.

The examples are many. Take the case of "Attention Deficit Disorder" or ADD - a disease that didn't exist before it was invented by drug scientists and the drug industry in the early 80s, and which is now one of the most (if not the most) lucrative areas for pharmaceutical drug sales. The list of drugs includes Desoxyn, Ritalin, Adderal, Wellbutrin, Concerta and Vyanse - all of who are methamphetamine knockoffs (desoxyn is pure meth).

They give these drugs to kids deemed "hyperactive" and if they ever take the kids off the drugs, they freak out - the same way a methamphetamine addict does when their supply of crank runs out - and they then say "there you go - proof your kid has ADD."

The situation is similar with the other main class of drugs for kids, i.e. Prozac, Zoloft, and so on.

However, pharma has a problem - most of their patents are set to expire, and the facts are that their new, patent-able knockoffs of old top-sellers are no better than the old versions, regardless of the what the cooked studies claim. So what do they do? Take their cash and buy up the generic companies in order to continue monopolizing the market.

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HR 676 Single Payer Universal Health Care For All
Posted by: jacksmith on Nov 2, 2007 3:19 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
For the first time in the history of America. The life expectancy of today's children is less than that of their parents. This is catastrophic. And our infant mortality is equal to that of a third world country. Current U.S. adult life expectancy is down from #1 to #42. And dropping fast. These facts are what is known as EXTINCTION! indicators. These are the early signs of the final phase of the EXTINCTION of the American people.

You have to take the profit motive out of health care delivery. The profit motive does not work with health care. Or any other essential public service like police, and fire. The sooner everyone faces this truth. The sooner you will be able to adopt a real solution to the problem. The days of paying for health care out of pocket are at an end. Just like the mob days of paying for protection out of pocket came to an end.

HR 676 is the way to go. Single payer Universal National Health Care For All. Medicare for all. Accept no substitutes. The sooner you face this. The sooner you begin to heal the Cancer of private for profit medicine that is destroying this entire society. Other developed countries realized this years ago. It's a no-brainer now. See sickocure.org

Money, greed, and the profit motive has just decimated health care in America. And killed, and injured millions needlessly. Just for profit. But that is what large amounts of money, greed, and a lust for power always does. No one is immune from this corrupting power. The smart ones know this. And avoid letting them-self be put in compromising positions. But that is easier said. Than done. And very few succeed.

Most in the US go into medicine primarily to become wealthy. That is who the medical schools mostly choose. Most of the medical schools faculty are in bed with the drug companies, and others. And like the story of Dr. Faustus. They end up selling their soles. One compromise at a time. Until Lucifer owns them.

In medicine. Compromised care means. Injury, disability, and death. It's sad really. But HR 676 can fix this disgrace. Like it has in other developed countries. The only question is. How many more millions will be hurt, injured, and killed. And how many more of your children will die before their time. Before we fix this disgrace of private for profit health care in America.

I realize there will be a few people that have what they believe is good health care coverage. Who will want to opt out of a single payer system like HR 676. But let me remind you we rank # 37 in quality of health care for all. Down from #1. Never the less. A few opting out is not a problem. As long as all other Americans are automatically covered at birth through life. Unless they choose to opt out of HR 676. The government takes out 1.4% from your paycheck now for Medicare. All they have to do is substitute for HR 676 what they now take out of your paychecks for private health insurance. Remember, we already spend more on health care than any other country in the world. Right Now. We are being ripped off. And raped.

The SCHIP program is a desperately needed program for Americas children. But with the impending EXTINCTION of Americas children. And their current catastrophic health care condition. SCHIP needs to be extended to cover all of Americas children, immediately. Parents should have no hesitations, or financial worries about seeking medical care for their children. Whenever they have any concerns about their children's health. Especially in the richest country in the world. I would submit that any President, or politician that fails to do this for the children. Betrays their most solemn oath to protect the American people. Especially when you consider that all other developed countries have done this. And that we are the richest country in the world.

Get on it America. Get it done. It's the right fight, and the right thing to do. Now!

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keep the illness alive and big pharma will prosper
Posted by: ellie on Nov 2, 2007 4:27 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
a personal thorn in my side here, literally as an insulin dependent diabetic, (type 1 not type 2 from the start, my pancreas just went out to lunch and never came back)...

someone please explain to me why it costs almost over $100.00 for a bottle of insulin which doesn't go too far (it was discovered in 1924 and patents still apply, no generics here), almost $1.00 each for blood glucose test strips you need to calculate the amount of insulin your body needs using the free glucometer the test strip company supplies 4-8 times a day depending on how your body is reacting that day...

there is a cure for type 1 but insurance companies, the FDA and big pharma are blocking the way... way too much money will be lost, add up the numbers, you'll see... the 'cure' right now is islet cell implantation or a pancreas transplant, but the biggie, the pancreas only seems to be allowed for by insurance as a bonus prize if you are in end stage kidney failure and almost dead from the disease anyway....

just my thoughts, back to coffee...

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like war, the health "care" industry is a murderous racket
Posted by: Suzon on Nov 2, 2007 5:26 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It depends not on making you well, but on making you sick.

How it works:

A healthy person with no insurance cannot afford to see a doctor on a routine basis.

If they develop undetected hypertension or treatable cancer without overt symptoms, they see no reason to see a doctor.

Even if they were feeling uneasy about not having a health check, they know that medication and treatment are going to be unaffordable.

Due to the undetected hypertension or cancer, a medical crisis occurs: stroke, heart attack or unbearable pain.

Now that their health has been seriously impaired, they have little choice but to try to get what medical treatment and drugs that they can.

The health "care" industry has trapped them and will milk them (or the government) like ants milk aphids.

If this actually resulted in the restoration of health, it wouldn't be quite so despicable, but often the result of late treatment and medication is a life of severe disability and suffering before a premature death.

Some say that the only duty of government is to provide national security. Well, what is a nation, if it's not an aggregate of its individuals?

People, not corporations, are the nation.

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It all started 70 years ago when Cannibas was BANNED first through
Posted by: maxpayne on Nov 2, 2007 5:56 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
HEAVY taxation and then BANNING it outright. Never ever trust Big Pharma on anything ! In fact, there is no real capitalism in all of this by BANNING real cures all the while going out on a limb to hype the fake and POISONOUS BULLSHIT ! It's all a RIGGED "Capitalism" PERIOD.

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