get rid of the employer tax break
2. all health insurance to be private-HSAs
3.get rid of FDA
4.tort reform-no pain and suffering and a cap on medical liability
5.get rid of any rules that violating/inhibit selling insurance instruments across state lines-right out of the Commerce Clause which was ignored in WWII-unions were the cause [edited: to add last point]

The medical system now is a lot like the prison system. Once you get in the system, you'll never fully be released from it. I've seen many people I know get in there and end up dead by 50 - robust, happy people.

Pharma owns the U.S. government. Major ownage.

Freedom: Just another brick in the wall...

In a free market, I agree, but we don't have one. The insured aren't 'moochers' but the system is designed to give the impression of something for nothing. The payment has been just delayed and transferred to others. Insurance is gambling. The customer bets he will get sick (pays for 'health' insurance.) The house (insurance co) bets the customer won't get sick and takes a cut on every transaction. Then because the cost to roll the dice is low (low co-pay), the customer keeps going back to the table (doctor) even when there is nothing but palliative "treatment". That increases the demand and the suppliers (pharma/docs/hospitals) increase the cost to the house who then raises the cost to play for the customer.
There is no free market feedback to limit the demand, and with the government forcing everyone to gamble against their own health the demand goes up again.
Its insane. Its against every working example of every market in history.
Want to fix the spiraling cost of "health" quickly? Ban insurance for medical care. Eliminate all government insurance plans, too.

I agree; however, that issue has longer term consequences. The woman in the article wants something she can't get immediately. I am not familiar with the treatments she is discussing. Have they been discontinued due to lack of interest in funding them?

Arrested! So much for 'demonacracy'.
I guess there is enough of us for them to profit on, so letting 6.5 billion of us die won't make much difference in there bottom line. [sarcasm]
But, This might be an opportunity to use already established cures (flora-essence tea, intervenes vitamin C, Hemp oil and others) and explore many others. It just might bite them in the butt in the end.

Legalize production of CBD and this all goes away.

All the other rich countries have, not just nationalized medicine, but price controls on drugs. The result is that American consumers have been the world's only source of funds for drug R&D for decades. With ObamaCare (or perish the thought, the socialized health service that may follow ObamaCare) that exception goes away, and worldwide R&D in medicine stops. Or it becomes a state monopoly, so poltically incorrect innovations never see the light of day.

You make it sound like the public (or at least those insured) are moochers, and I beg to differ. When drug companies pull old drugs off the market so they can force us to pay through the nose for the new ones or do without, the government should respond by voiding the patents on the old ones and letting any company produce them. This problem is not an accident and it is not the victims' fault.

Obamacare provides dental coverage only for children, I think. And the cost for novocaine has gone up (everything has gone up, kind of like the grocery store), but it's still available!

A friend went to an optom about 7 years ago and got a presciption. She still uses it after photoshopping the date when ordering glasses online. Average cost $7/yr so far. Glasses are about $15 single, $35 progressive bi. Not exactly in the ballpark with $5/pill x3 per day for what was and should be a 9 cent drug. F^&% the FDA.

Down right destructive by design.
you have a whole lot of haters in you court.

What a disgraceful, rotten bastard is Mr. BHO. That article should be distributed to everyone who votes in the USA. Just one more thing put forth by him either out of ignorance, ineptness, or downright destructiveness. I never was much of a hater -- but I'm learning.

There is currently a new drug approved by the FDA that is used to treat certain blood cancers. It is a pill that is taken daily and thus far appears to be a lifetime medication, such as HBP meds. It works great so far, and has few side effects, but the cost is approximately $10,000.00 a month. Many people who are able to obtain it have been successful getting grants from the pharmaceutical company to subsidize the cost. I am wondering why a company would price a drug far and above what the average person could afford, only to subsidize it. Not many people have $120,000.00 available on a yearly basis for a life saving drug. How does the manufacturer plan to generate a profit if the product is unaffordable?

How is this effecting dentistry? Is your ability to work being altered by drug prices and/or availability.

Jan

I have friends in big pharma, and they told me not to believe the lie that those huge prices are because of the costs of research.
The costs of meds are high because 2/3 of the companies' profits go to lobbying in Washington and bribing doctors and hospitals to use their products exclusively.

I certainly do not support cronies, but what did people think the cash price for a drug would be if everyone is paying $5-$10 for a scrip? no one has any idea what medical care and innovation really costs-and they do NOT care. For years, we had a catastrophic plan and I paid cash everywhere. only a very few times did I get a cash discount. The system has been rigged ever since the market introduced HMOs and employers were complicit and the government knew it was just the last nail in the coffin to socialized medicine. and now a little Stones :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S94o...

The general public has no idea what is going on. If they did, they would be even angrier than they are.