Prescription Drug Prices

Steve Bryant

Steve Bryant

New Member
Hello, nice to be part of this group. I'm a retired corporate executive who's beginning to have some success as a songwriter in Nashville. It only took 7 years!

A few years ago, my family doctor tried to prescribe a simple steroid cream for an ongoing patch of dry skin. The 6 oz. tube was refused by my insurance and I was told I'd have to buy it myself. Okay, I figured it was no problem. How much could a 6 oz. cream of topical steroid be? I was shocked to find out it was over $800! Knowing I was a songwriter, my doctor said I should write a song about the ongoing ripoffs from Big Pharma and Insurance.

It took a couple of years. I wrote several different songs, but I considered them to be crap. After these awful attempts, I came upon this one. Here's the You Tube video for the track. Currently shopping this in Nashville. Hope you enjoy it!

 

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I bought a tube of topical steroid cream just the other week on my doctors advice for some dry flaky patches on my elbows... it's a 15 gram tube and cost £4.00..as it's a steroid cream you have to use it sparingly, so a 15grm tube will last a long time, but as it happened, it cleared up the dryness within a week...
 
Wow! That’s really good. You are a great musician and that’s a sweet recording. That’s something I wish I’d done and must be on my bucket list.
 

Keesha said:
What???? It’s the big pharma companies that sponsor them. They CAN afford to pay for them.🤔But you were most likely being sarcastic.🤭
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Yeah, sarcastic....but, big Pharma just adds the costs of their advertising to the price they charge for their drugs....so that is one pretty big reason why drugs are so much more expensive here, than in Canada and Mexico...where this propaganda isn't so prevalent. As I understand it, only the US and New Zealand allow this TV advertising of drugs.
 
Don M. said:
Yeah, sarcastic....but, big Pharma just adds the costs of their advertising to the price they charge for their drugs....so that is one pretty big reason why drugs are so much more expensive here, than in Canada and Mexico...where this propaganda isn't so prevalent. As I understand it, only the US and New Zealand allow this TV advertising of drugs.
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I think the main reason is plain old greed. They believe they can monopolize society and did so with flying colours.

The number one reason why pharma drugs are so expensive is that they educate the doctors. ALL education is sponsored by big pharma companies.

It’s actually quite pathetic how manipulated we are as a society

Even dietician education is sponsored by big food companies. This makes education hugely BIASED!
 
Years ago - when magazines were a popular thing and drug companies were just beginning to advertise in them - I told my doctor that if I could pick up a magazine in his office and find a double or triple page ad for a particular drug I did NOT want a prescription for it unless he was sure certain I would die without it and even then I would hesitate. If the general public had had the same attitude, it would not be the problem it is today.

Public ads for prescription drugs should not be allowed.
 
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Keesha said:
The number one reason why pharma drugs are so expensive is that they educate the doctors. ALL education is sponsored by big pharma companies.
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I have a cousin whose son became a doctor. He said that a substantial part of his med school training was to memorize "symptoms" and the names of the drugs being marketed to "treat" the symptoms. Very little emphasis was placed upon "preventative" medicine and treatment, because there is little money to be made by encouraging people to take better care of their health.
 
My doc is nice. She'll give me a free sample if she can. Pharma reps are always hanging out at the office so it's usually no problem. I believe you when you say it cost $800. My one psych med costs that much. Thankfully I qualify for extra help under Medicare Part D or I'd be worse off my nut than I already am.
 
Don M. said:
I have a cousin whose son became a doctor. He said that a substantial part of his med school training was to memorize "symptoms" and the names of the drugs being marketed to "treat" the symptoms. Very little emphasis was placed upon "preventative" medicine and treatment, because there is little money to be made by encouraging people to take better care of their health.
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Exactly. Doctors aren’t actually into health care. There’s no money in it. They are in the sick care business because that’s what makes the money. A doctor is trained to diagnose symptoms and prescribe a medicine to go along with it. Some of these medicines can be very addictive and seriously damaging.

They have about 2 to 4 weeks of education about nutrition and alternative care but even that is sponsored and monopolized by big food companies etc.

Doctors get fringe benefits like cars, cruises, trips etc., by choosing certain drugs to prescribe.
With us regular folk it’s known as bribery.
Doctors aren’t in the health care field. They make no money trying to get people healthy.

That’s not to say there aren’t some grand conventional medical practitioners. There are but there’s isn’t any money in preventative health care from a general practitioners point of view. There’s no money in it. That’s exactly right.
 

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