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Patients, business owners, doctors and nurses agree: everyone except pharmaceutical companies and health insurers are struggling with the high cost of health care. The key to affordable health care is that everyone saves when everyone's in.Together we can negotiate bulk discounts, cut overhead costs, and make the health care system more efficient. Join the California Health Consensus Project and the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights to build support for health care solutions! Web Log - Feb 02, 2005Medicare Repairby Jerry Flanagan, (310) 392-0522 ext. 319 Sign up to receive web logs via email. Something that President Bush is not expected to talk about tonight in his State of the Union Address has drug companies laughing all the way to the bank. That something is a ban in the new Medicare drug law that prevents the 41 million-member program from harnessing its buying power to negotiate drug discounts like private insurers and big businesses commonly do. Market analysts have concluded that recent spikes in drug prices are in anticipation of the Medicare drug benefit to begin in full in 2006: * Pfizer increased the price of its top selling cholesterol drug Lipitor by 5% - twice the consumer inflation rate. * Bristol Meyers Squibb raised the price of its painkiller, Mobic, by 11%. Mobic has seen increased sales since Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market. A new bipartisan effort provides a critical counter punch. Legislation introduced yesterday by Senators Wyden (D-Ore) and McCain (R-Ariz.) repeals Section 1860D-11(I) of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which prohibits Medicare from negotiating for lower-cost drugs in bulk. Additionally, the legislation requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to track ongoing changes in drug prices - an essential step to ensure that drug companies do not arbitrarily increase prices as the Medicare drug benefit takes effect. Web Log - Nov 29, 2004 Rx Express Successby Jerry Flanagan, (310) 392-0522 ext. 319 Sign up to receive web logs via email. Rx Express riders saved and average of 60% off the prescription drug prices they pay in the U.S. for an average annualized savings of $2000 each. Canada, like England, Ireland and other countries negotiates bulk discounts on behalf of all residents.�more» Web Log - Sep 29, 2004 Join Us On Board the East Coast Rx Express!by Jerry Flanagan, (310) 392-0522 ext. 319 Sign up to receive web logs via email. From October 11th through October 14th, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) � a nonpartisan consumer advocacy group � will charter a private train to take seniors and other patients to Toronto, Canada to legally purchase lower cost U.S. made prescription drugs.�more» Read More Web Logs » |
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