Comments for Have a Good Life http://jamesrichmond.wordpress.com Just another Wordpress.com weblog Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:23:04 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on Thicky’s Healty Diet by Rob b http://jamesrichmond.wordpress.com/2006/06/11/thickys-healty-diet/#comment-10 Rob b Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:23:04 +0000 https://jamesrichmond.wordpress.com/2006/06/11/thickys-healty-diet/#comment-10 I've noticed that after a workout, I can get ravenous and really chow. Guess that is normal but it sux! LOL I’ve noticed that after a workout, I can get ravenous and really chow. Guess that is normal but it sux! LOL

]]> Comment on Prescription Drug Costs by Brock Knez http://jamesrichmond.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/prescription-drug-costs/#comment-4 Brock Knez Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:15:58 +0000 http://jamesrichmond.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/prescription-drug-costs/#comment-4 According to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the fastest growing part of our rising health care costs is prescription drugs. AARP has watched this trend and reported that the rising cost of prescription drugs is far outpacing the rate of inflation. These rising costs have resulted in huge profits for the drug companies. Fortune magazine has reported that for eight straight years (1995 to 2002), drug companies were the most profitable industry in the United States. Where do these profits come from? Right out of the pockets of consumers who pay overly high prices for their prescriptions, insurance premiums, and co-pays. Things have gotten so out of hand that in 2003 a national study showed that nearly one out of four Americans with a chronic medical condition did not fill all of their prescriptions because they could not afford to. Drug companies claim they charge such high prices to fund research and development, but the companies' own financial reports tell a different story. For example, the drug company Pfizer had 2004 net income (profit) of $11.4 billion, even after paying research and development expenses. Anyone who watches the evening news knows where the drug companies really spend their money. Just count the number of drug commercials you see in half an hour. Families USA published a report showing that the major drug companies spend far more on marketing, advertising, and administration than on research and development. Why the emphasis on advertising to consumers and marketing to doctors? Because the most expensive medications must be prescribed and purchased in order for the drug companies to reap their enormous profits. High prices can be charged for newer medications, because drug companies have patents on these drugs, eliminating competition from generic drug manufacturers. What the drug companies don’t want you to know is that there are almost always effective, less expensive, medication alternatives. Consumers and health professionals have had limited access to information comparing the effectiveness of various drugs used to treat the same condition. With the growing number of new drugs, it is difficult for consumers, and even for health professionals, to decide which medication best fits a particular need. This plays into the hands of the drug companies who are able to effectively promote the expensive medications. Meanwhile, no one is promoting the less expensive alternatives, which are easily forgotten. I started LowerMyDrugBill.com with another pharmacist and a physician in order to empower the public with information on lower cost prescription drug alternatives. Beginning Wednesday January 31st, the site will be entirely free. It has a database of drug reports for specific drugs and doses which can be taken to a patient’s healthcare provider in order to switch to a less costly prescription alternative. It provides drug dose conversions and is in an easy to read format. Don't waste your green on the Purple Pill!!! According to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the fastest growing part of our rising health care costs is prescription drugs. AARP has watched this trend and reported that the rising cost of prescription drugs is far outpacing the rate of inflation. These rising costs have resulted in huge profits for the drug companies. Fortune magazine has reported that for eight straight years (1995 to 2002), drug companies were the most profitable industry in the United States. Where do these profits come from? Right out of the pockets of consumers who pay overly high prices for their prescriptions, insurance premiums, and co-pays. Things have gotten so out of hand that in 2003 a national study showed that nearly one out of four Americans with a chronic medical condition did not fill all of their prescriptions because they could not afford to.

Drug companies claim they charge such high prices to fund research and development, but the companies’ own financial reports tell a different story. For example, the drug company Pfizer had 2004 net income (profit) of $11.4 billion, even after paying research and development expenses. Anyone who watches the evening news knows where the drug companies really spend their money. Just count the number of drug commercials you see in half an hour. Families USA published a report showing that the major drug companies spend far more on marketing, advertising, and administration than on research and development.

Why the emphasis on advertising to consumers and marketing to doctors? Because the most expensive medications must be prescribed and purchased in order for the drug companies to reap their enormous profits. High prices can be charged for newer medications, because drug companies have patents on these drugs, eliminating competition from generic drug manufacturers. What the drug companies don’t want you to know is that there are almost always effective, less expensive, medication alternatives. Consumers and health professionals have had limited access to information comparing the effectiveness of various drugs used to treat the same condition. With the growing number of new drugs, it is difficult for consumers, and even for health professionals, to decide which medication best fits a particular need. This plays into the hands of the drug companies who are able to effectively promote the expensive medications. Meanwhile, no one is promoting the less expensive alternatives, which are easily forgotten.

I started LowerMyDrugBill.com with another pharmacist and a physician in order to empower the public with information on lower cost prescription drug alternatives. Beginning Wednesday January 31st, the site will be entirely free. It has a database of drug reports for specific drugs and doses which can be taken to a patient’s healthcare provider in order to switch to a less costly prescription alternative. It provides drug dose conversions and is in an easy to read format.

Don’t waste your green on the Purple Pill!!!

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