To prevent further cardiac problems following my March 2018 “widowmaker” heart attack, I’ve made a number of lifestyle changes. This includes taking eight medications, including Pradaxa and Entresto, which aren’t covered fully yet by Medicare. Thus the annual price tag is $11,117, $6,654 coming from my wallet. Compared to chemotherapy, this is peanuts, yet this old monkey, now being retired on a fixed income, feels ripped off while these drug expenses keep escalating.
Big Pharma tries to justify the price of its peanuts on research. Yet most of the innovations are done by small startups that get gobbled up by the few big guys. Much of money then goes to company CEOs and stockholders, and also toward direct marketing and massive federal and state lobbying efforts, It’s basically “pay-to-play” politics, where nothing gets out on the field of play without Big Pharma’s OK.
Thus American medication users contribute greatly to a very, very lucrative welfare system for the drug industry. Meanwhile in most countries, including Canada, people luckily pay peanuts for drugs. So this old guy doesn’t like the price-gouging.
However, to aid in my recovery I wrote in a journal every day, which morphed into my book “Back From the Edge,” available on Amazon and from Toadstool bookstores.
Mike Beebe
Lyndeborough