Kremer’s Corner: Will the consumer ever get a break

Jerry Kremer

There is no doubt that every day we are bombarded with political stories. Between the tweets from an out-of-control president and the chatter of the cable television hosts, more and more people are becoming disgusted with politics.

So it’s time to change the subject and talk about health care. If you were cynical about politicians, taking a deep look into the health field will not make you feel any better.

Let’s start with the pharmaceutical industry. There are many powerful lobbying groups in the country but the pharma business is right up there at the top when it comes to manipulating the consumer.

Last June, President Trump spoke glowingly about his new program to reduce your drug prices. He proclaimed that his efforts were part of keeping a campaign promise to lower drug costs. To date, nothing major has happened.

This past week Congress was considering a bill to address the nation’s opioid epidemic. The federal government is far behind most of the states when it comes to fighting the rising tide of deaths from accidental overdoses.

Buried deep into this badly needed legislation was a provision that would give the industry $4 billion as an outright gift. It seems that the requirement for the companies to give larger discounts, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, was saving more money for consumers than anticipated so the pharma companies wanted some of your savings back.

You may be tired of all of those television talk shows where political discussions are hot and heavy.

But how about all of those drug commercials that dominate almost every major television channel? Drug companies are spending billions on media advertising and the average consumer would believe that there is no disease that can’t be cured.

One particular drug is featured in separate ads as curing at least three kinds of unrelated ailments. These ads, if you can hear them, all end with the warnings of the different ways the drug can kill you.

Another area of public manipulation is drug research. Very often, we get excited about the results of new research that promises a cure for a rare disease that had taken the lives of someone we know.

A recent study in Psychological Medicine magazine showed that some researchers will tell you the positive effects of a new drug and ignore other features that could harm a patient. It turns out that some of those research efforts are quietly supported by a drug company.

No branch of health care is immune from scandal. Recently, the head of operations at the highly respected Sloan Kettering Hospital was forced to resign because a number of major drug companies were subsidizing his work.

To add to the drama, some key hospital executives were investing in an outside business opportunity and using the studies of other doctors, without their permission. It’s a great institution, but even they make mistakes.

Logically, the next place to look is our federal and state legislators. Maybe they will provide some relief from high drug prices and curb the arbitrary practices of the health insurance industry.

An examination of campaign contributions to legislators involved in health-care issues shows that many rely on the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance companies for their campaign moneys.

So don’t count on some of our important legislative committee chairs to advance many pro-consumer reforms.

One of the new trends in healthcare is that your family physician is no longer in an independent practice.

A growing number of doctors are now employed by hospitals due to the pressures of high malpractice insurance costs and the many new government requirements that force doctors to spend countless hours on simple paperwork.

This doesn’t mean that there is anything bad about your doctor being an employee of a hospital. It just speaks to the fact that small medical practices are being bullied by the insurance industry and have to find ways to survive.

This is not meant to sour our readers on the state of the health-care industry. There are many great institutions providing high-quality care.

In addition, many new drugs are being developed that will save countless lives over the next few years. But as citizens of a great country, we must be vigilant not only when it comes to politics but when the issue is staying alive and healthy.

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