In a rapidly aging population, it goes without saying that healthcare is a pivotal election issue. There have been proposals of a vague nature, and all of the candidates seem to shy away from confronting the big pharmaceutical companies whose rapaciousness is matched only by the energy consortiums. It is the right and proper role of government to take a more active and involved stance, as it is articulated in the Constitution; to promote the general welfare of the people.
Since 1985, an intensive lobbying campaign has allowed pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to the consumer with only minimal restrictions imposed by the FDA, FCC and other government bodies. Going directly to the public to promote sales has resulted in the dysfunctional
health care system that has benefited insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and resulted in a decline of the quality of Americans healthcare, as well as rises in obesity, autism, and infant mortality rates. Yet candidates remain silent on what was a trial program, one that has gone horribly wrong. The bloated ad budgets have contributed to grossly inflated health care costs as well as a decline in most every parameter of societal public health. We have the specter of the government actively working against Americans buying prescription medicines from Canada or buying generic. We also see pharmaceutical companies insuring and expanding their profits at taxpayers expense. If this was a truely free society, why couldn't the market power of government be broght to bear in institutional purchases for medicare and veterans programs?
Legal councils for big pharma hides behind free speech, a right not extended to liquor or tobacco on televison. In the twenty three years since prescription ads were allowed we have seen a meteroic rise in costs as well as a proliferation of treatments for illnesses that hadn't previously existed.
The sole reason of restless leg syndrome, for instance, is a cash cow. Research increasingly indicates that cholesterol rates have no bearing on heart disease, yet lipitor and other statins rake in billions. Two examples in a panalopy of hundreds. Direct advertising has also led us to the place where prescription drug abuse is the number one narcotics problem in the nation. I implore Barack Obama to put this issue on the table when examining the health care future. No one is addressing it as yet, and I fear that the power of drug companies is too vast and too intrenched.
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