Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Jeff Buchanan]

By now, most of you have read or heard the news of Trump's “most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people.”

It is not.

This is another example of how well the Trump administration shapes it's messaging to influence the perceptions of Trump's base and mitigate criticism of his administrations policies on all fronts.

Most analysis of his proposals indicate that they either would do nothing, are too vague to assess impact or if they do anything substantial have long implementation time lines. i.e., you're not going to go to your pharmacy on Monday and find that the Hep C medication produced by Gillead at $800/tablet and an $84K price tag for a course of treatment is going to be affordable or that Albuterol, the long standing and typical teatment for Asthama patients is going to cost the $10-12/m it used to cost instead of the $360 it now costs.

I'm not going to try to explain how drugs are priced and what the costs of them to consumers are. If you want to understand the arcane and overly complex (intended to obfuscate both pricing and costs) model currently is, it's worth a read.

But to me, the important thing to understand is that Trump continues to try to fool the American people about the impact of things he and his administration implement through policy.

[Ghengis Jon]

Sadly, this type of disinformation will continue unabated. There are two reasons for it.

First, Trump wants to counterbalance the amount of news stories that he perceives as unfavorable to him. Truth and accuracy are only relevant if it casts Trump in a favorable light. Like most pathological liars, being confronted with facts is a very painful experience which is why he will continue to try and paint the press as an enemy. Enemy is Trump's word, not mine. (See tweets from Feb 16, 2017)

Second, Trump has lived most of his life in an alternative reality. He has never had to be held accountable. He's never had a boss due to family wealth, never had to answer to a board of directors, and gleefully uses those close to him as meat (see treatment of wives as one example). If Trump decided that the sky was plaid, he would simply pay those around him to tell him he was right, the sky is plaid. He found no shortage of people that for the right amount of money would do, say or believe whatever he wants. This has fed the very stable genius's perception that he's always right because his money says so. Remember the first public roundtable of his new cabinet members? Where Trump had each one tell Trump and the cameras how he was near god like, how thankful they were personally to Trump and how he is America's salvation? That goes beyond ego, that's mental illness on full display. The universe is what I say it is.

The cost of drugs. I would implement 2 policies immediately. I would shorten the drug patent lengths considerably, to say three years. I would allow prescriptions to be filled outside of the US. Some of the medications my family takes are not available in generics. It is cheaper to run over to Sarnia, pay for an office call at the doctor, and get 3 months supply of the meds at about 20% of the US cost.

[Whitley]

Another thing and this is something the federal government could do is negotiate with the pharma companies what drug prices are going to be. It floors me that feds (on behalf of medicare and medicaid) do not use their purchasing power at all.

[iam416]

Wait a minute, a politician touting a proposed program out the ass? NFW. I mean N. F. W.

Thankfully most othe healthcare proposals, like, say, the ACA, are sold simply as is.

[Dr. Strangelove]

MCGA?

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/995680316458262533[/ame]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/05/13/trump-pledges-to-help-chinese-phone-maker-zte-get-back-into-business/?utm_term=.2107873d7ba6

The Defense Dept banned ZTE phones because they felt the Chinese were hiding surveillance programs in them.

[Ghengis Jon]

Putin told him he had to do it.

[Kapture1]

Putin told him he had to do it.

Before or after he bombed Syria and extended a giant fuck you to Iran?

[Ghengis Jon]

Putin doesn't care about little pinpricks in Syria, that's all for show that Trump goo-gooblers eat up. Has no strategic or tactical value. Needlessly breaking an agreement with Iran also means nothing at this point in time as no sanctions are forthcoming for months. And when Europe thumbs it's nose at President Douche Bag by keeping their part of the bargain, what's the dipshit going to do? Sanction the rest of the US trading partners?

Putin pulls the strings as needed and Trump dances.

[iam416]

I’m confused. The US had a treaty with Iran?

[Da Geezer]

Needlessly breaking a treaty with Iran also means nothing at this point in time as no sanctions are forthcoming for months. And when Europe thumbs it's nose at President Douche Bag by keeping their part of the bargain, what's the dipshit going to do? Sanction the rest of the US trading partners?

First, it is not a treaty. There is no document or understanding signed by Iran. What it is is Obama's wish that the US support the Shia against the Sunni. Fortunately, he had no chance of getting this monstrosity through the Senate as a treaty. The deal was another instance of Obama not being able to get Congress to go along with his desires and Obama just ruling by executive action. I just wish we could get back the $ 150 Billion that he pissed away as a bribe or the $ 1.7 Billion he paid (in currency)

The Iran deal guaranteed Iran a nuclear weapon in seven more years and obligated the US to defend Iran against Israel if Iran were attacked. Obama even sent his own political operatives to Israel to help elect candidates opposed to Bebe N. His anti-semitism and his hatred of America were palpable. All you have to do is to read some sermons of his "mentor" Rev. Wright, or his "good friend" Louis Farahkahn.

We'll see about which way Europe goes, but they are acting like a child who just got his popsicle taken away from him. They can either trade with the US or with Iran once a reasonable period of time is given to their companies to shut down Iranian operations. At that point, most of the European trade with Iran will be reliant on licensing agreements that European companies have made with American companies. Those European companies will be sanctioned. The nice thing is that Trump tends to tell the truth, and I bet Europe believes him when he says he is going to restore the sanctions on Iran.

Anyway, great day tomorrow with the embassy moving to Jerusalem. Promises made, promises kept. What a stark contrast to Obama.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Wait a minute, a politician touting a proposed program out the ass? NFW. I mean N. F. W.

Thankfully most othe healthcare proposals, like, say, the ACA, are sold simply as is.

It's a matter of degree. DJT's pronouncements with respect to this particular policy on prescription costs to consumers and pricing of drugs by big pharma are wildly inaccurate exaggerations.

The implications and impact of the ACA were understandable to folks who practice in the medical field. I can't remember any specific examples of wildly exaggerated pronouncements. Sure, there was some hype but if you support some degree of universal healthcare as I do, the ACA was a decent effort compromised by measures insisted by the legislative opposition intended to make it fail.

If you are not a supporter of some level of universal healthcare then sure, you're going to find ways to demean it and the BO administration that got it through Congress.

[drok]

The nice thing is that Trump tends to tell the truth

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Ghengis Jon]

Orwellian truth.

[iam416]

The implications and impact of the ACA were understandable to folks who practice in the medical field. I can't remember any specific examples of wildly exaggerated pronouncements. Sure, there was some hype but if you support some degree of universal healthcare as I do, the ACA was a decent effort compromised by measures insisted by the legislative opposition intended to make it fail.

If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it.

[iam416]

Another thing and this is something the federal government could do is negotiate with the pharma companies what drug prices are going to be. It floors me that feds (on behalf of medicare and medicaid) do not use their purchasing power at all.

Yeah, I wonder if they have the leverage you think they do. I mean, it makes sense to leverage down prices of patented drugs with bundled purchases of non-patented, but I'd presume the Govt goes generic on the off-patent drugs (or the name drugs off patent are already cheap). So, you're still dealing with on-patent drugs and there isn't any competition. So, they MIGHT not have the leverage you think. I honestly don't know.