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ATROCIOUS big pharma price gouging of insulin:
This crying mother can’t afford the $1000 for her son’s insulin.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">yet, it only costs pharma $5 to produce.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">Insulin was invented 100 years ago by Fred Banting—who donated patent for $1 to make it free for all.
Let that sink in.
This crying mother can’t afford the $1000 for her son’s insulin.
Let that sink in.
2) Insulin is one of the most disgusting cases of price gouging ever.
America has long taken a free market approach to pharmaceuticals.
Drug companies haggle separately over drug prices with a variety of private insurers across the country... https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/4/3/18293950/why-is-insulin-so-expensive">https://www.google.com/amp/s/www...
America has long taken a free market approach to pharmaceuticals.
Drug companies haggle separately over drug prices with a variety of private insurers across the country... https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/4/3/18293950/why-is-insulin-so-expensive">https://www.google.com/amp/s/www...
3) “Meanwhile, Medicare, the government health program for those over age 65 — it’s also the nation’s largest buyer of drugs—is barred from negotiating drug prices. That gives pharma more leverage, and it leads to the kind of price surges of EpiPens, opioid antidotes, & insulin.”
4) In 2018:
Johnson & Johnson CEO made $30M
Pfizer CEO made $28M
Merck CEO made $18M
Eli Lilly CEO made $16M
Gilead CEO made $16M
Meanwhile:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">Americans spent $535B on Rx drugs
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">1/4 of diabetics rationed insulin to survive
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">500K Americans went bankrupt from medical bills.
Johnson & Johnson CEO made $30M
Pfizer CEO made $28M
Merck CEO made $18M
Eli Lilly CEO made $16M
Gilead CEO made $16M
Meanwhile:
5) What’s the right price patients should pay for medications? ZERO dollars, because no copay ==> more patients get their medicine ==> saves lives and saves money. Copays decrease adherence, and copays hurt patients who actually need them.
6) Yet, America has the highest rate of skipping drugs -- 1 in 6 patients!!! It’s shameful how much Americans have to skip their prescription medicine compared to other countries that pay much less and have zero copays.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/upshot/drugs-cost-diabetes.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/1...
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/upshot/drugs-cost-diabetes.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/1...
7) Not just insulin, parents of kids with allergies are forced to shell out $600 for EpiPen because it is a matter of life and death. Here is a dark story about Mylan, the EpiPen maker who pharma jacked up the price from a few $ to $600.
8) First, Mylan didn’t even invent epinephrine, which is simply our human hormone, better known as *adrenaline*, packaged into an https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze"> injector (not some wild invention), invented by scientists paid by taxpayers. But big pharma gets to hold parents of kids with allergies hostage.
injector (not some wild invention), invented by scientists paid by taxpayers. But big pharma gets to hold parents of kids with allergies hostage." title="8) First, Mylan didn’t even invent epinephrine, which is simply our human hormone, better known as *adrenaline*, packaged into an https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💉" title="Spritze" aria-label="Emoji: Spritze"> injector (not some wild invention), invented by scientists paid by taxpayers. But big pharma gets to hold parents of kids with allergies hostage." class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
9) Even worse, Mylan was also recently ***criminally charged*** by Department of Justice for outright fraudulent EpiPen billing, and fined $465 million for its corruption. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/mylan-agrees-pay-465-million-resolve-false-claims-act-liability-underpaying-epipen-rebates">https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/my...
10) What we need most of all is #MedicareForAll.
My wife @andreafeigl1 & I used to study universal health care. Key factors of success:
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">Not dictatorship—10x
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">Proportional rep elections—2.8x
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">Less ethnic fractionalization—2x
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📌" title="Reißzwecke" aria-label="Emoji: Reißzwecke">Less wealth inequality https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168851013001711">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a...
My wife @andreafeigl1 & I used to study universal health care. Key factors of success:
11) if you cannot afford your hospital bills... here is something important to know... https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1351360824917569537">https://twitter.com/DrEricDin...
12) AOC nails it… thread https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread"> below… https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1390128730576760833">https://twitter.com/drericdin...
