Oh Billy!

Billy - How could you?

I used to be one of your biggest fans. I still use OxiClean in almost every wash. So how could you do this to me???!!!

Okay – a little background for those of you who are arriving late. I was watching the “pitchmen” show on the Discovery Channel the other day. It is a great reality show about those guys who sell all those crappy plastic products on TV. Then I saw it – my idea – being sold and marketed by Billy May’s old company.



Last March,, while blogging about the high cost of prescription medicine, I suggested that what we really need is a medicine cabinet with a lock on it. Missed that blog? Read it here:

http://healthcarehullabalo.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-in-your-safe.html



So I’m watching the Pitchmen show and – there it is – my idea materialized in 6 ounces of Chinese plastic. OK – it wasn’t EXACTLY my idea – a Medicine Cabinet with a lock on it. What they are selling is something called a ‘Rx Locker” – which is a little locking tub where you can keep your prescription medicine – but the IDEA is pretty much the same.



Well, maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on poor Billy – he probably had already blown up his heart from doing too much coke long before the Rx Locker was ever introduced. (Side Note: Who was shocked to discover that Billy did a lot of coke? Me neither)

Maybe my ire should be directed elsewhere – like at Anthony Sullivan – master Pitchman and Billy’s old business partner. After all, Sully was the guy who pitched this product on TV. Plus, he’s a foreigner, so he is already suspect. Plus, he’s the guy who sold me that cruddy mop at the home show.



BUT WAIT - THERE"S MORE !

Sully isn’t acting alone – celebrity Disc Jockey Kennedy was all ga-ga over this product. (I had never heard of Kennedy before – she’s apparently big in LA. I can see now why she’s so successful – she has a face made for radio). Kennedy then got her friend Dr. Drew Pinsky to act as a spokesperson for it. (You know Dr. Drew from that old MTV show – the one that made Adam Carolla semi-famous).




In fact, it’s beginning to look like a conspiracy to me. Luckily, my blog is like a little Zapruder film. Does anyone have Oliver Stone's phone number?



Maybe I shouldn’t really care about them stealing my idea. After all, they are marketing it all wrong. According to Dr. Drew the Rx Locker is “Designed to act as a deterrent for teens who might take prescription drugs from parents or grandparents and use/abuse them without a prescription”

Yeah, he’s totally missing the boat if he thinks the reason for buying this thing is to keep Junior out of Grandma’s Xanax. That kid could probably hack his way through the Department of Defense’s firewall – what makes you think that a $10 piece of plastic is going to stop him. Besides, the kid is probably smart enough to buy a spare Rx Locker, smash Grandma’s with a hammer to get at the good stuff, and then replace it with the new one, leaving Grandma wondering why her combination keeps changing.




No, the real need is for a more substantial piece of hardware, like a wall safe with a mirror on it like I suggested in my blog. ½” of cold rolled steel will keep Junior out of Gramps pharmacopia – or at least keep him occupied until they get home from Bingo.. Beside, do Grandma and Grandpa really care about Junior stealing some industrial strength laxatives? Not when Grandma’s bottle of Boniva is worth more than their Camry.




Plus, a true combination safe/medicine cabinet has other benefits as well – like stopping nosey visitors from spying your tube of anti-fungal ointment and your box of hemorrhoid medicine.



Maybe I should give Sully a call myself – what do you think? Or maybe I should give Vince a call – I think that he must be out of prison by now after he beat up that prostitute.





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Harvard

Hallowed Halls.

Top is tops – number one is number one – once you’ve reached the apex of your field, no one can claim to be better.

America is known worldwide for the excellence of its higher education – witness the large number of foreign national students at our universities. This year, the best of our best is Harvard University, according to the US News and World Report list. Harvard displaced perennial front-runner Princeton for the top honors this year.



Harvard also scored a two-fer this year. Not only did the University receive top honors, but Harvard Medical Scholl was also named number one.

There is little surprise in this recent ranking – Harvard is almost universally recognized as as being at the pinnacle of higher education. In addition to educational excellence, Harvard is also recognized for its high moral standards as well – Harvard Gentlemen (and Ladies) are expected to represent and maintain the best social and ethical standards.

Agreed?

Well, this makes it especially surprising and revolting that a top professor at Harvard Medical Scholl was caught with his hand in the cookie jar – a cookie jar belonging to Big Pharm.



It seems that leading child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman of Harvard Medical School failed to report over 1.6 million dollars in funding that he received from the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Biederman single-handedly increased (by a factor of 40) the diagnosis of childhood Bipolar disorder. He is also, not so coincidentally, a leading proponent of treating children with powerful (and expensive) anti-psychotic prescription drugs.

You can read all the dirty details here:

http://news.injuryboard.com/harvard-psychiatrist-must-suspend-clinical-trials-over-conflicts.aspx?googleid=254242#ixzz1BPWdTDe5





As a result of this debacle, Dr. Biederman could lose his position at Harvard (not an easy thing to do to a tenured professor). He is also being sued by parents who claim that their children were harmed by the drugs he recommended. And the reputation of Harvard Medical School has a nice new thick coat of tarnish.




How could this happen? Why would pharmaceutical companies exert undue influence on a respected Medical Researcher? Well, this question becomes far less baffling when you follow the money. Here’s a partial list of some of the medications involved in the scandal as well as the monthly costs associated with their use (from Drugstore.com):

Abilify - $600
Zyprexa - $300-$900
Seroquel - $150 - $250
Geodon - $200-$250



Multiply these figures by the thousands of pediatric patients, who take this drug each and every month, year after year, and it’s easy to see how that 1.6 million dollar ‘contribution’ is just a drop in the bucket for the pharmaceutical industry.

More importantly, it becomes clear to everyone just how much influence that Big Pharm has on us and our health (fiscal and otherwise).

Sadly, the aftermath of this incident is beyond tragic. Thousands of innocent children may have been permanently affected by the misapplication of these medications. A renowned professor may have lost his career. And the Number One Medical School in the country has just stepped in a big stinky pile of Number Two.





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Pee-flation

Inflation is a fact of life. Most things get more expensive as time goes by. This is especially true in the world of Health Care. And inflation can be found in the most unusual of places.

Consider, if you will, the world of vitamins and supplements. As a long-time proponent of nutritional supplements, I have had to endure the same mantra over and over again from the medical community and its’ minions. It has been explained to me, ad nauseum, that the human body does not store excess vitamins, but passes them out immediately. It was therefore foolish and wasteful for anyone to take vitamin supplements. Almost every doctor I have ever discussed this with had the same contrite saying on the subject:

“All you are doing is making expensive urine”




Regardless of this medical advice, I have continued to take vitamins and supplements over the years. Maybe my urine was more expensive then most, but it wasn’t that expensive. By ordering my supplements via mail order, I was able to purchase them for very little money. Besides, I thought, what do Doctor’s know? Even they admit that they are licensed only to “practice” medicine. Hey Doc - give me a call once you get this medicine thing worked out and you’re done practicing.

Another benefit of using supplements is that they made me feel good about myself. Maybe I don't drive a fancy car or live in an expensive house, but at least I could wee wee like Warren Buffet.

Over the years, it seems that the medical outlook on supplements was starting to ease off. Pediatricians started recommending vitamin supplements for their patients. Expectant Moms were ordered to take pre-natal vitamins. It slowly became medically acceptable for certain patients to have expensive pee.



As the years passed, more and more articles were published extolling the benefits of nutritional supplements, but these were usually dismissed by medical professionals. Research not performed by a big Pharmaceutical Corporation could not be relied upon. Often, these articles were seen as yellow journalism.

Fast forward to the present age, and it seems that it’s now OK to use certain supplements. In 2010, prescription Fish Oil tablets were all the rage. Now, in 2011, the big push is on for Prescription Vitamin D supplements.

The key word thus far is “Prescription”. The same supplements that I have been using for years are now being produced by Big Pharm and marketed through Medical Offices – at a cost often 10-20 times what the same dosage would cost you – without a prescription – from a mail order supplier.



It seems to me that, thanks to Big Pharm, a lot of people are making REALLY Expensive Urine. I’m talking Tinkle that is worthy of Tiffany's.

Even with a prescription plan, the co-payment for these prescription supplements id going to be 3-4 times higher than the cost of buying the equivalent dosage mail order.

The bottom line? If you are buying prescription supplements, you’re just pissing your money away. And contributing to health care inflation at the same time.




And that’s just flushing your money down the toilet.





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The Flying Nun

Ah yes – another favorite TV show from my youth. This series – featuring a 90 pound novice nun whos unique habit caused her to levitate in a stiff breeze – made Sally Fields a superstar (Gidget? That was before my time).

Sally went on to groundbreaking roles in Norma Rae and the Miracle worker – not to mention her role in those Smokey and the Bandit movies.




Sally has been one of America’s most beloved and respected actresses, winning two Oscars for Best Actress, plus countless other awards and nominations. Her busy career continues even today, with her role in the hit ‘Brothers and Sisters” TV Drama, where she plays the family matriarch.


Which leads me to wonder – why does this respected actress work as a shill for Boniva, a prescription medication for osteoporosis? Well, it turns out that Sally does suffer from this disease, and she probably does use Boniva herself. But still, why does she sully herself as a spokesperson for this pill?

My guess – the good folks at Roche Therapeutics Inc., manufacturers of Boniva, probably threw a boatload of money at her to do these commercials.

But still – Sally surely doesn’t come cheap – how can Roche afford her?

Well, after doing a little research, it turns out that Boniva doesn’t come cheap either.

According to Drugstore.com, Boniva costs a ludicrous $400 per pill. In case you think I miss-typed a decimal point, that’s Four Hundred Dollars a pill. One pill. Thank goodness you only take it once a month.

Grabbing some perspective, your Boniva habit will cost you about the same as a monthly lease on a mid-range Lexus. You’re paying around $74,000.00 an ounce for ibandronate sodium, the active ingredient in Boniva.

Of course, those of us with prescription drug coverage will never notice the price tag – until next year’s rate increase for your prescription plan comes through.

And for those of you without a prescription plan, forget about trading in your ten year old Hyundai just yet – at $400.00 a pop, even millionaire playboy and casino owner Carlos Ramirez would feel the sting of that pricey little pill.



Well, at least Sister Bertrille doesn’t have to worry so much about breaking a leg during a rough landing.

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Pop Warner

Oh the joys of Pee-Wee football. I can still hear the calls of a pint-sized quarterback echoing in my ears:

31- Blue - 31 – Blue – 59 – HIKE!

Oh wait – that’s not a midget QB – that’s an executive at California Blue Cross. They recently requested rate hikes as much as 59% for its subscribers.

Pity poor California BC/BS – they are blaming these rate hikes on increased expenditures for hospital care and prescription drug coverage.



Granted, both of these areas are way overpriced, and contribute to the uber-inflation in our health care system – which makes them easy scapegoats for Johnny Wong, head Spin Doctor out at California BC/BS. Mr. Wong also blames rising provider fees, greater use of medical services by its members, and, get this, “the fact that healthier people are dropping coverage during a bad economy,”

In other words, people who don’t have an immediate need for health care coverage are deciding that they can no longer afford it. So, instead of trying to make health insurance more affordable, they are just going to hose the people who have no choice but to pay these outrageous premiums.

Yes, Mr. Wong, health care expenditures continue to rise at an alarming rate. Tell you what – show us where hospital and physician fees, prescription drug costs, and other health care expenditures by your company have risen by 59% over the last 12 months, and we’ll grant you your rate hike. Otherwise, let’s have the good citizens of California run you and the other overpaid executives at California BC/BS out of the State on a rail. They’ll even throw ina good tar and feathering in order to send a clear message to executives at other abusive ‘non-profit’ health insurers. We’ll give you a week to gather your numbers – in the meantime, we’ll be gathering up some feathers.

Not so fast, pleads Mr. Wong - “Even with these rate increases, Blue Shield of California expects to lose tens of millions of dollars on its individual health care business in both 2010 and 2011”. So I ask Mr. Wong “What cost-saving measures are being undertaken by California BC/BS to make up that shortfall before you decided to announce that 59% rate hike?” You know things like cutting executive pay and benefits, and getting rid of non-essential employees like Spin Doctors?



As the regular readers of my blog will recognize, California BC/BS’s antics are just an attempt to make as much hay as possible while the sun is still shining, before 2014 when National Health Care Reform will put an end to their raping of the health care consumer

And they pay their Spin Doctors to come up with new and exciting justifications for their dirty deeds. And that’s just Wong.

Yes, boys and girls, in today’s world, you can’t spell ‘BC/BS’ without ‘BS”.

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