© 2009 Rich Martin
Permission to repost in full, or in part, is granted. In other words, please feel free to forward to a friend or list. If you received this from a friend, you can subscribe by sending email to: [email protected] or just check the archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SLick_Ezine/messages ________________________________ >From the Home of Rich & Peggy Martin As a card-carrying member of the Senior class, Medicare Prescripton plan, I have a suggestion. Allow seniors to get the same discount the govt has negotiated with pharmaceuticals and do away with the costly govt prescription plan. Rich Martin ______________________________________________________________________ RICHS RANTS Remember when everyone was clamoring about how long it took for a generic drug to get to the market? Drug companies explained the cost of medical research is expensive, and if the time of their protection from copycats was reduced, they would have to raise the cost of their products during the patent period. Some projects might even have to be dropped because it would be unlikely to recoup the research costs in the shortened patent length. The wise & all-knowing myopic Congress made an industry-wide managerial decision to shorten the time allotted for a creater to recoup the cost of medical research to develop new products by starting the copyright protection earlier in the process leaving fewer years of productive revenue. We’ll never know how many medicines retired on the drawing board because the new rules didn’t allow enough time to be profitable for the inventors. We do know how the the drug companies adapted to their new reality. They started advertising to get the word of their new product out faster. They hand delivered samples of the new products to the doctors office door, complete with promos and supporting documentation, which the docs would share with their patients. After the value of the product is established in the market, drug manufacturers cut the promos and samples and sell them at full price, aka, supply-and-demand, to cover the research costs. The net results of this is: new drugs get on the market sooner, higher distribution costs resulting in higher retail prices during the out years. So that’s the world we come to know today, but guess what? The myopic legislators are meddling again. In their little minds they reason medicine would be less expensive if they could do away with all these incentives drug makers give doctors! Another managerial decision with unintended consequences. Example http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090313/REG/303139992/1153&nocache=1 If the incentives are removed, it stands to reason that revenue during the patent period would be less---meaning fewer dollars would be available for medical research! They’ve taken US full circle. Medical research is unbeleivably high. How high? When I worked at Walgreen’s one of our benefits was a drug plan. We paid cost-plus 10% capped at $3.00/rx. I never hit the cap on all the medicines I had been paying $28 for previously. Or, to put it another way, out of the 140 or 150 countries in the world, only 4 others can afford to invest in medical research for the entire human race. Still not impressed. What if there was a really big problem that doctors of science have not attempted to address because the cost of pursuing a miracle cure could not be recovered? Well, there’s lots of them. (FYI – these decisions are made by Cost Accountants, which I assure you, use logic, not sentiment; and every manufacturer of any product, has a staff of same on the payroll.) Certainly, no project would be considered that the patent period ran out before the final product was produced. For instance, adult stem research has been very profitable medically and profit-wise. On the other hand, the much more complicated embryonic stem cell research is not financially viable due to the limits in the patent laws. By the time new products were ready for market, the patent would have run out. These creations can only be produced outside of the govt-controlled market place. There must be 1,000s of such projects waiting of the shelf for a financial angel to give them life. Maybe from a rich donor or charity, such as the Heart Fund, or the American Cancer Society; or, like in the case of AIDS and the aforementioned embryonic cell research, the govt itself. ________________________________ You know that big prescription bill passed by Congress and signed by GWB? You know, the one they say was the biggest govt program since FDR, etc. The figures I’m going to quote are from my wife’s plan. She’s suffering from COPD. She takes 7 “maintenance” pills daily. For the Year 2008. Average Retail price $3,952 (No idea how this is calculated) Less: Discounts from drug cos. $1,215 Amount paid by the plan $1,676 We paid out-of pocket $1,061 $3,952 Looks like a deal, right? But there’s other factors they "forgot"to include, such as the $96/month taken out of her Social Security check AND the 2 RX we had to pay $225 for at year end because we reached the “cap”. ($96 x 12 mos + $225 + $1,061 = $2,438.) So we paid $2,438 vs net cost of the drugs @ retail, $2,737 ($3,952 minus $1,215) for a cost to the govt. Net saving to us, $293. IMHO, everyone would have been better off if the plan got us the discount instead of the “insurance”. Imagine, an RX card that would be presented to the druggist and deductible on the next payment to the drug supplier. And with minimal govt participation. (E.g., no approval required by the druggist or checks written by the “plan.”) Now I know there’s people who take more than 7 pills/day; and I’ve read the stories about the spectacularly expensive drugs that some people need. But I know there’s a lot more people like me who also had $1,152 deducted by the govt and had the good fortune not to need the first dime. ________________________________ Last month Peggy took her 2nd ride to the hospital in an ambulance. I won't bother you with the details but the bill just came in. Total hospital day $9,533 (2days) Less: Discounts from hospital $7,077 Amount paid by the plan $2,281 We paid out-of pocket $ 176 $9,533 Ambulance bill pending AIG. A caller to the Rush Limbaugh radio show (Mon, Mar 17) made an interesting connection. As we know, Gov Elliot Spitzer as NY Attny Genl would attack high profile targets and get a lot of publicity that went nowhere legally. One of his targets was Hank Greenberg, CEO of AIG. There were no legal charges brought, but Greenberg had to step down due to the bad publicity. By co-incidence, Greenberg was a Republican supporter; his govt-replacement, Ed Liddy, who has recd $185 B in bail out tax dollars, is a Democrat supporter. http://www.freedomunderground.org/view.php?v=3&t=3&aid=25933 Bonuses. The big thing about the bonuses, isn't the size of them, but the fact the Congress thinks it has the Constitutional power to take them back. What would they do if they found out CitiGroup also paid out some pretty big bonuses on the tax payers dime? Certainly they were intimately involved in granting million dollar bonuses to exec at Fannie and Freddie, which have done such a wonderful job getting US into this crisis. DNC targets private citizen Rush Limbaugh http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/DMC_limbaugh_ad/2009/03/05/188950.html The BAIL OUT Benedict Arnolds: Spector, Collins & Snowe http://nationalrepublicantrust.com/letter_morris_stimulus.html ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, OR WHOSE SIDE ARE WE ON? The last case I remember like this, the rancher was sentenced to 5 years and a black-robed tyrant awarded three Mexican tresspassers his ranch. http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/09/16-illegals-sue-arizona-rancher/ In an interview on Glenn Beck, the wife of the railroaded Border Patrol agent, Jose Compean, said he wants to back to work. Why, was the question, after spending 2 years in solitaire. She explained he’s disappointed in the govt, but loves his country. I can identify with that. REMINDER – Sen Burris is forgotten but not gone. Was Blagojevich taped requesting $10K from Sen Burris? IMHO, too little to be real, but lots of fun. I'm looking forward to Blago’s trial? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090215/ap_on_re_us/burris_blagojevich_donation The machine can't figure out how to replace Burris with Jesse Jackson Jr, their original choice. Best Quote of the year 2008 “Somewhere in Kenya a village is missing their idiot.” Rick Johnson [email protected] The Boy Scouts of America . National HQ . 1329 Walnut Hill Ln . Irving, TX 75162 . (972) 580-2263 . http://www.scouting.org/ REMEMBER WHEN... … our govt was on our side? THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO, HMMM IN THE NIGHT The MSM (Mediocre Stream Media) still hasn't shared the facts of the legal challenges to Obama's birth certificate mystery. Hmmm? I remember when they were on our side too. Things you can't say aloud---because the answer might scare you. I was absolutely delighted to find out that the girl from Aruba isn't dead after all. Best of all, haven't heard a word since the guy the MSM said killed her told Gretta Van Susteren another story. He said a guy gave him a bag of money to arrange for the meeting on the beach. The last he saw of her was the guy leading her to his yacht. The last thing she said, "aren't you coming?" Now, if we could only put Ann Nicole Smith to rest. -- LAST WORD Beautiful This one is worth watching. Turn your speakers up >From Our Founding Fathers http://www.interviewwithgod.com/patriotic/highband.htm THE TRUTH IS A. Powerful. C. In the eye of the beholder B. Irrelevant D. All of the above. TODAY'S BLAST FROM THE PAST – http://lists.topica.com/lists/USAttacked/read/message.html?mid=901339929&sort=d&start=0 ................................................... ________________________________ The only thing worse than Waco is the ongoing cover-up. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=573761538341962905 (new location) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4298137966377572665 http://www.myspace.com/bdsda http://www.movie-forumz.org/showthread.php?t=35645&highlight=waco ________________________________ Born in the USA http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91763 ________________________________ Updated March 14 OBAMA ELIGIBILITY ISSUE MUST BE RESOLVED SOON http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd436.htm Why are there still questions about qualifications? http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?p=877422#post877422 The Show me state trying to get Obama's birth certificate http://www.oilforimmigration.org/facts/?p=1246 More military members join law suit http://theliberaldemocrat.com/?p=1535 Read the Declaration of Independence during this music interlude http://talkwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/03/obama-save-yourself.html SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO LOOK AT THE MERITS OF THE CASES VS BHO http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91345 If the SCOTUS doesn't care about the Constitution, why should any of US? Certainly the USG doesn't respect its limits. ________________________________ I'M MAD, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANY MORE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The question is NOT whether Obama is natural-born, we're past that. The question now is: whether or not the various clauses of the Constitution are enforceable or are they nothing more than words for the govt to hide behind. ________________________________ With ACORN, La Raza, and Ohio Dem officials sitting on 20,000 suspect voter registrations and other Dept heads releasing Joe the Plumber's confidential information, this has been an incredibly, uncreditable election. You'd think there'd be a law somewhere at some level that would make elections honest. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS has ruled, no one has standing. Rich Martin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- This is the incredibly uncreditable election. 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