Is the 'Big Pharma Bubble' next?

[Ryan Stewart]

Taxation in the form of under our vices. Tax against liquor, beer, weed in some places, sugar tax on candy and soda.

Higher gas taxes. Just tax the air you breath.

Personally I think all those clowns in the HOUSE and SENATE should have the same health care program if I'm forced to have it as well.

The issue is there arent enough taxes. If two people have two kids, and those two people retire and need to be paid SS, Medicare, etc. the money comes from the kids. Its a pyramid scheme and always has been, by design.

It worked well when we had a growing population because we could take a small amount from each person and when we were 5:1 we could support someone who was unemployed/retired. The problem now is it will be going to and worse than 1:1. So if your granddad needs a $10,000 surgery including imagery and the like, you'd need to pay that. All of it. On top of supporting the unemployed, the ones who consume even more and the entire govt.

And you can only lower it so much without preventing care. Its a service provided by human beings that need compensation and its using increasingly complex (but also increasingly effective) equipment that is expensive to make and maintain. Healthcare costs 100x what it did 100 years ago because you are also 100x more likely to survive it.

[mrsleeve]

^

Would have helped immensely if the Crooks during the nixon administration had left the SS trust fund alone and let it keep growing while all the boomers were still early in their working lives. But sadly as we all know, they didnt and moved the SS trust fund into the general fund and SPENT IT ALL. Thats why you dont get a SS payment when you retiree you get a Benefit payment

Not to say the SS would not still be going broke but it would still be much much more solvent that it is today and still saveable in many many ways

[M-technik-3]

Our policy is getting crazy just saw a 4% increase today. Next year will be another 9% jump according to our provider.

Honestly I need jack squat, I only went last year to the ER because my gal would not allow me not too. we have good insurance under her too.

[e30_luv_]

It all stems from 1 thing: Advertising. Watch the national nightly news (ABC, CBS, etc) and +90% are for prescription medications. Restless legs? Take a pill. Dry eyes? Here's some fancy-ass drops. 60 years old and not feeling like you're 18 still? Try some testosterone cream. Just had your prostate removed and can't get a boner at 75 years old? Don't worry, we have a pill for that too. Kid won't pay attention in class? Make him/her take this drug.

Americans are being conditioned to believe that anything going on with their minds/bodies that is less than desirable should be treated with drugs. Is it any wonder then that we over-medicate and look to drugs to cure every single ailment we face? It has nothing to do with the ACA, this was all in place looooong before that was even a glimmer in Obama's eye. The bottom line is that the more you advertise something, the more people want it. When you add in to that advertising fear, the fear of being inferior to others, of being sick, of being less than normal, you have the perfect recipe for a sale.

I honestly believe the biggest step the US could take to ween us off this drug culture is to simply outlaw the advertising of medicine, the same way we did with tobacco. If you're truly sick, you will seek out the medicine to help you. Nobody needs to be told they may/my not have a condition and should "ask their doctor about X"

This to the max. As a nursing student, I see a very small, minuscule amount of medications people take. But as the patient/resident/client takes one medication, they take several more meds for a side effect of the original, then more meds for the 'side effect' meds, and the process goes on and on. My teacher put it perfectly, IMO, "Every drug is a toxin, every pill has an ill, every ill has a pill."

The point where I get confused at is, where does one cross the line? If you have asthma but love to exercise should you take a bronchodilator, helps with breathing, to exercise? My opinion, yes. But the media stimulation and pressure to ram down the 'idealistic' view of being perfect is sickening.

The example of being 75 and not feeling 18, came true in a presentation during class in which a 70+ plus doctor from California, looked like George St. Pierre. Ripped, huge muscles, veins exploding through his skin, and I kid you not a 6 pack. His secret? Testosterone. Why? WHY?! Why in the world at 70 years old, do you have to be 18 again? Why not be happy with who you are, enjoy your wrinkly skin, enjoy your wrinkly wife, and die a happy man. Don't try to be someone who you are not. Which leads back to the point of media influence.

/rant

TL;DR: People take a lot of meds, some unnecessary, some needed.
Media has a huge influence.
The U.S. population needs to regain the backbone we once had.

[deutschman]

Agree with original post

[joshh]

Is this another boring thread where most everyone agrees on the basic idea?

[StereoInstaller1]

http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=14372

[uofom3]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...-worst-changes

I think the next 10-15 years will be an interesting time in US society, with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) being found constitutional and moving forward, along with the DSM-5 being approved and pushed through without oversight, we will be entering a society where being prescribed 'something' for every little personality trait, the next generations will be even more accepting of taking a pill instead of being who they are.

This is a slippery slope that will undoubtedly lead to a majority, if not every citizen on mood/personality/mind altering medications to revise society into a bunch of numb, dumb, and helpless individuals.

As many people of age to be bringing children into this world that have experienced an entire lifetime in the realm of ADD/ADHD, they will be willingly feeding their children these medications instead of proper parenting, and taking responsibility for raising a productive, intelligent, self thinking individuals.



OK, now feel free to argue with my point of view.

Agreed. I'm not against western medicine, but I don't personally like to take pills. My children won't be taking many either.

Somehow civilization made it this far without a pharma drug for everything - don't see why that should change now.