"Everybody has their own Ventoux"

[Ripley451]

I guess now is a good time to say that the annual cost of the medication I'll be on is around £40-60k per year...............or about $23,555,000 given the current exchange rate

[movrnotashakr]

...... ..........

~movr

[alienator]

I guess now is a good time to say that the annual cost of the medication I'll be on is around £40-60k per year...............or about $23,555,000 given the current exchange rate

Do you have insurance to cover any of that? Does the socialized medicine system cover any of that? Have you checked to see if there are any other options or assistance in paying for those meds?

Fucking medical costs, especially medication, are outrageous. I wanna throw a brick through my TV everytime I hear a talking head from a drug company saying that med costs are only high because the companies have to pay for all the R&D. My ass. When was the last time a drug company went belly up? They're damned profitable companies....profitable as a result of the way they rape people's wallets.

[movrnotashakr]

We are just going to have to agree to disagree.

~movr

[alienator]

We are just going to have to agree to disagree.

~movr

What are we disagreeing about? Whether Ripley should get treatment? Yeah, I was on the fence for a while about that, what with him being a menace to society at large, but then I thought there might be some infinitessimally possibility that he might change and be less repulsive to humanity.

[movrnotashakr]

We are disagreeing about one another's thoughts on Drug companies, R&D expenses, and their profitability.

We do agree that Ripley should get treatment. Although I'm not so sure about the "infinitessimally possibility that he might change and be less repulsive to humanity."

~movr

[drjones96]

Tell me honestly there is a pill out there worth $1000. C'mon. You can give me that, "You can't put a price on good medicine" BS all you want to but the alienator is on the money on this. Major pharmacutical corporations are in the buisiness to make money. The only way they can is by making good drugs that peoples' lives depend on which they also own the patents on. Then they've got us by the balls. They can charge whatever they want for it. It really pisses them off when they accidentally make a drug that gets them into court. Not because of the pain and suffering the bad drug caused but because it cuts into their profits.

What sucks is the lives of good people depend on their greedy asses.

And don't get me going on insurance companies. They've been giving pharmacutical companies the reach-around for many a year.

[movrnotashakr]

I don't want to get too off topic, but I still don't agree and I'm not sorry I don't. However, I do agree with this statement. "Major pharmacutical corporations are in the buisiness to make money." They do get patents, but it is my understanding those patents don't last forever. That's why we have generic drugs as well, right?

Do you think they would be creating as many life saving drugs if they were doing it to break even? I just don't think that is the way things work. That may make them greedy and inhumane, but it also makes them human.

~movr

[alienator]

I don't want to get too off topic, but I still don't agree and I'm not sorry I don't. However, I do agree with this statement. "Major pharmacutical corporations are in the buisiness to make money." They do get patents, but it is my understanding those patents don't last forever. That's why we have generic drugs as well, right?

Do you think they would be creating as many life saving drugs if they were doing it to break even? I just don't think that is the way things work. That may make them greedy and inhumane, but it also makes them human.

~movr

Not to get too far off topic, but drug companies get 7 years of exclusivity with their patents. At least that was the idea behind the law. However with copious greasing of political wheels--as is common with the drug companies--these patents are extended for another 7 years.....and another 7 years....and another 7 years.

Those grand, humanitarian drug companies are the same ones that are so resistant and loathe to make sure that AIDS drugs are available to the populations that need them. Africa, the great AIDS incubator, has an AIDS epidemic--a real threat to humanity--and those great drug companies will do anything but make sure that the drugs get there.

As someone that spent years in medicine, it's evident, at least to me, that the last thing that drug companies care about is people. They care a lot more about giving free drugs to docs (Vioxx, baby: way expensive, and according to studies, no more effective than ibuprofen), all accompanied with dinners, food for hospital staff, pens, trips, and whatever else allows them to market their stuff.

As someone who takes expensive medicines and has been doing so for 26+ years, I can guarantee you that the drug companies are making money hand over fist. Profit is one thing, but what the drug companies are doing is more like war profiteering. Curiously, my medication costs went up nearly 50% less than one month after the current administration first entered office. It's good and profitable to have friends in high places, ain't it?

[movrnotashakr]

Like I said before we will have to agree to disagree.

~movr

[scott97]

Heres to your positive outlook and a positive outcome!!

I was looking to post a pic of the hottest Babe on staff at the clinic...

So here she is.

[alienator]

Mmmmmm. Me love longtime.

[Fibre-Lyte]

What are we disagreeing about? Whether Ripley should get treatment? Yeah, I was on the fence for a while about that, what with him being a menace to society at large, but then I thought there might be some infinitessimally possibility that he might change and be less repulsive to humanity.

Yeh, I kind of thought the same thing. But then I thought, that guy needs all the help he can get to keep up with us faster cyclists, and if it takes £20 mil to do it, so be it. There again, Ripleys health or a set of Lightweights for everyone, hmm, Lightweights it is then (sorry Loz!!)

That nurse is rather fit as well, but I think she has a bit of a bunny boiler look about her

[Mike]

Whoa Ripley so sorry to hear of your medical problem.
I have been away awhile & am just reading up now.
Good Luck to you & don't give up hope.
Mike

[Ripley451]

Does the socialized medicine system cover any of that?

Almost all of it will be covered by that method. For each prescription I will have to pay £6.80 or something along those lines, so I'll be paying just over £20 for ~£2000 worth of meds a month for my meds thanks to the NHS.

Not to get too far off topic, but drug companies get 7 years of exclusivity with their patents. At least that was the idea behind the law. However with copious greasing of political wheels--as is common with the drug companies--these patents are extended for another 7 years.....and another 7 years....and another 7 years.

And if a drug gets granted 'Orphan' status then they get a 15 year patent...

There again, Ripleys health or a set of Lightweights for everyone, hmm, Lightweights it is then (sorry Loz!!)

I thought the idea was that we just drove over to the dark side of the Pennines and nicked some of LJ's?

That nurse is rather fit as well...

So do I need to ask Sue for copies of her pic?

Ps.She's a physio (sadist)