OxyContin Epidemic - For Profit Suffering?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Lawsuit claims Sackler family disregarded safety, opioid addiction in Purdue push to profit from OxyContin

Members of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, the company that created the powerful opioid painkiller OxyContin, directed sales representatives to push extremely high doses of the drug and later tried to get involved in opioid addiction treatment as a way to boost profits, according to a lawsuit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lawsuit-claims-sackler-family-disregarded-safety-opioid-addiction-in-purdue-push-to-profit-from-oxycontin/2019/02/01/5d29e072-2660-11e9-90cd-dedb0c92dc17_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3534dc955a73

There are so many drugs and treatments (abdominal type meshes, birth control, diabetes & HBP medications) advertised to consumers today - on TV, billboards, in magazines and other publications, and in your doctor's office.  It seems like when I hear about them today, tomorrow, or in a year or so some end up as class action lawsuits "Call 1-800- XXXXXXX" and see if you may have been harmed. 

With all the testing, why do they find problems when the drugs are used by real people?  Don't they do adequate testing?  Are there flaws in the testing process?  Do the companies refund money to health insurers?  Consumers?  Government programs?  Or, it is all about making unlimited profits?

When does the blank check for profit and drugs/treatments that 'might' help come to an end?

Just my humble opinions and questions.

[WhiskeyGirl]

The modern tragedy of fake cancer cures

So it happened again. An underreported story about a half-baked advance in cancer medicine caught fire and scorched its way through social media, onto network TV, and into the minds of millions of people.

To start, no. There won’t be “a complete cure for cancer” in a year’s time, as the chairman of a small Israeli biotechnology firm predicted to the Jerusalem Post. The claim, absurd on its face, was particularly frustrating to those who work in medicine and drug development because it seemed so obvious there was not enough evidence to make it.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-modern-tragedy-of-fake-cancer-cures

Who is paying for all these profits?  Where is the health insurance/medical coverage for people who would rather keep there money, rather than pay for all the suffering and fake cures?  Treatments that don't work.

If you live long enough, you may meet a lot of people who go through 'cancer' and other treatments and are declared 'cancer' free at some point.  The treatment can be financially devastating to families.  After a few years they rejoice that they remain cancer free.  At some point, cancer spreads, or the same kind of cancer returns.  'It's not the same cancer, it's a new cancer'  - really?   For profit medical cures and treatments are not free.  Treatments can be expensive.   People make many different choices about treatment.  Is there a refund for all the care if the cancer or other ailment  returns after a year?  3 years?  10 years?  

The biggest growth industry in American seems to be welfare in it's many forms - free housing, free medical care - and someone else has to pay for it.

Whey is someone held accountable for all the medical miracle/snake oil failures?  When is the money clawed back?

just my humble opinions and questions

[WhiskeyGirl]

Before Obamacare old style medical insurance often received complaints because it did not pay for experimental, maintenance, and unproven drugs, or treatments that were experimental, cosmetic in nature, psychiatric, or had a poor track record.  This saved money for all rate payers.  Premiums for Obamacare are not affordable for many, co-pays are too high, people are still waiting to see the savings promised by Obama, many lost their doctors, and good doctors seem to be retiring early.  Health insurance was that affordable for many is now priced out of reach for working people.   

Old school policies in many states offered choice.  If you wanted maternity, birth control, psychiatric, maintenance meds, or other
pricey items, you could add them.  If you had pre-existing conditions, some were insurable for additional premium or waiting periods.  Everyone wasn't forced to take coverage they did not need or want.  Insurance was affordable for many, and many states offered high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions.   Health maintenance options were also available for many in addition to health insurance.  There was choice.  Today, it seems like working people cannot escape rising premiums and rising costs, lower quality care. 

Where is all the money going?  Why doesn't everyone pay for their care?  Have some skin in the game?  Make some sacrifice for the common good?  Why does paying for the industrial medical industry profits fall on the backs of fewer and fewer working families?  Why isn't there a way for every able bodied person to contribute?

just my humble opinions
Where are the cost controls?  The savings?  What happened to choice?