You must be kidding! The FDA is partnering with health insurers & the drug delivery companies, both of whom made a fortune by looking the other way during this opiod epidemic! Now that health care is imploding & threatens to take our entire economy down with it, all the FDA is doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Deal with the real issue and that is monopoly price fixing by the entire health care industry.
V,
I must say I am a little confused by your comment. How did either of these entities make a fortune off the opioid epidemic? Last I checked these firms make money by not paying additional benefits not by paying more? Have the pharmaceutical companies profited certainly but not either of the players mentioned in the article.
Bob,
You are quite correct that these entities should make money by not paying for opioids that are not worthy of prescription. However, the health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers are also part of this price fixing monopoly & simply pass the cost on to you and me, while adding nothing of value. Need evidence? Compare your health care premiums and co-pays of today to 10 years ago. The increases are significantly above the rate of inflation.
You must be kidding! The FDA is partnering with health insurers & the drug delivery companies, both of whom made a fortune by looking the other way during this opiod epidemic! Now that health care is imploding & threatens to take our entire economy down with it, all the FDA is doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Deal with the real issue and that is monopoly price fixing by the entire health care industry.
V,
I must say I am a little confused by your comment. How did either of these entities make a fortune off the opioid epidemic? Last I checked these firms make money by not paying additional benefits not by paying more? Have the pharmaceutical companies profited certainly but not either of the players mentioned in the article.
Bob,
You are quite correct that these entities should make money by not paying for opioids that are not worthy of prescription. However, the health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers are also part of this price fixing monopoly & simply pass the cost on to you and me, while adding nothing of value. Need evidence? Compare your health care premiums and co-pays of today to 10 years ago. The increases are significantly above the rate of inflation.
Correction for you: According to both the CDC (here: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm655051e1.htm#) and NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (here: https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-crisis#one), the number of opioid deaths in 2015 was 33,091, not 23,000. Total deaths from drug overdoses were 54,404, with opioid deaths comprising 63.1% of the total.
Whatever Gottlieb does, the jury will be out on his efforts for quite some time.