Holy Shit! I guess I really just didn't get it until now.

The other day I bought some name brand Aventis allegra, manufactured by Aventis Pharma Ltd. India. 30 120mg time release tabs cost me $1.89 here in Nepal.

I just looked this up at Drugstore.com. The same exact quantity, dose etc would cost me $150.22, which is a savings over list of 7%.

So, the same company can sell the drug outside the US and probably other developed nations for a very reasonable price but charges nearly 100 TIMES that in the US.

The US health care industry is so fucked up. I just can't believe that factor of 100. I knew hospital care was ridiculously expensive, but this really blew my mind.

100 times...

We get screwed from every angle here - it's so stressful.

Guess who pays? And we pay after footing the R&D bill, too.

x(

drug testing of all Governmental people, Congress, Senators, you name it.

I mean, without the R&D, we wouldn't have these drugs in the first place. And it costs what it costs. Only a very few of all drugs developed make it to market. Most don't work or aren't safe (even by lax FDA standards). It's trial and error.

The cost of drugs is tied in to the insurance issue. If insurance pays all but $X of a prescription (remembering that the majority of Americans do have insurance - for now), the actual price doesn't matter to the consumer. But we end up paying indirectly through higher premiums.

So we're getting screwed under the radar.

Actually, a large portion of all new drugs are developed by scientists funded by NIH, which is part of the federal government. I think I saw a few months ago that only one out of the 20 most commonly prescribed drugs was developed WITHOUT NIH funding.

U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion.

http://weeksmd.com/?p=991

It's INSANE.

American consumer and tax payer. This was always bad but since Bush arrived it has grown exponentially. The Enronization of America. No wonder they cheated to get him into office.

I think the latter.

Multiple millions per year. We have the finest congress money can buy.

Someone add up how much the insurance industry, pharma, and corporate medical spend in advertising, salaries and bonuses, and especially on lobbying costs.

Bet it adds up to more than the shortage that people keep predicting. Under single payer we wouldn't have any of these costs.

better care for half the cost.

...not Nepalese politicians. They don't make US policy.

So there's that additional cost to each drug for bribe money...

if anyone wants to bring anything into this country it requires baksheesh. Corruption is institutionalized at an individual level. So, the importer here pays someone for the privilege of selling medicine in Nepal.

Their research already shows that we channel click away from their ads.

What they put those ad dollars out there for is to control the news teams - what local or even national news team would be allowed to hurt the advertisers that bring them so many billions?

So if you ever wonder why Single Payer Universal HC is not mentioned on TV...

not negotiate the price of medications with the Pharma companies. It's a boondoggle....

I don't think most Americans understand the extent at which we are getting screwed.

part. :banghead:

tea partiers? I share your frustration.

of these medications.

Americans are dumb!

We are paying for Senior Executive lifestyles, and that is all.

Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $ 0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%



Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%




Keflex: 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%






Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%


Norvasc: 10 mg
CONSUMER price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%




Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%



Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent marku p: 34,136%





Prilosec : 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%




Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%



Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%





Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%




Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%






Zestril: 20 mg
Consu mer price (100 tablets): $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients: $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809




Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%




Zocor: 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $350 .27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%


Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

but I picked up a Celebrex prescription today - 60 capsules, 100 mg - and its retail cost was $262.17....................

I don't think advertising is quite necessary, but R+D and manufacturing really do cost money. I'd stick an order of magnitude on the cost...

Mark up still obscene?

Yep.

my god it costs a fortune to set up a manufacturing facility...some of the figures were in the 250-500 million range. the r&d figures were not published.

I have heard that much of the research is done on campuses with grants from (OUR) government.

Lipitor had its Level II and III Testing done at NIH facilities.

(That is early human testing and late human testing)

The statin was tested first on the usual animal models at universties funded by NIH and a few by the developer themselves, funding same studies at University Campuses.

Yep we invest on it, but they benefit.

I'd have no issue in the investing part if they didn't make it sound like THEY DO all the work. They don't, and that is the dirty little secret. In fact, some of the profits, in theory, should go back to NIH in a revolving fund. They don't.

...but they do actually often pay investigators for those studies conducted at other venues. i don't know specificlly about nih, but it doesn't make much sense that even our crazy ass corporate govt would just do the research for free and hand it over to pharma.

It's time for NIH to start calling in all those favors and grants and patents it's just been giving away to those vultures...

Your taxes at work truly.

If taken out of the equation I would think the drugs would be more affordable.

Went looking for a chart, couldn't find one. I imagine that bonuses are a big part of the mark up.

and is done at Clinical Research Centers at University Hospitals across the US.

This canard really chafs, and is mostly an excuse.

I could see, for example Lipitor, have an extra of ten, maybe twenty bucks tacked to the basic ingredients, for a few years. That to help fund the research that should in theory go back to NIH... but these guys are excessive. They also make it sound like they do all the research. You are a doctor, you know just how NOT true that is, even today in an age of newly opened privately managed CRCs.

And yes, generics should be cheap, period.

IF they didn't have them commercials that drive your female patients to ask for cialis... (Yes I was joking about it with my doc, it wasn't a joke to her)... that is where a good percentage of the moneys go to and damn it, they even admit to it in private.

They spend a lot on buying representation. I just don't know how they enter those dollars on the ledger ;)

The business I work for sells EXPENSIVE kitchens to rich people. The raw ingredients to create the product is mostly ceramic, glass, wood and metal. In their raw state they are cheap. By the time our parts suppliers turn those raw ingredients into something useful, the parts are sold and shipped to an intermediate manufacturer who assembles a group of useful parts into drills, saws, lathes, etc so we can fabricate other raw ingredients into works of art. The human labor all along the chain, the profit all along the chain, the transportation costs all along the way.

To say a drug should be anywhere near the cost of it's raw ingredients is disingenuous at best.

That said .......... I must add a big FU to big Pharm for FUBAR.

From the documentary "Health, Money and Fear":

Breakdown of where the $222 billion the big pharma companies raked in in 2005 went:

R&D: 14%

Profit margin: 16% (versus less than 6% in most Fortune 500 companies)

Marketing and admin: 32% (more than half of this is spent on direct marketing to doctors)


http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=health+money+fear&hl=en&emb=0#q=health+money+fear&hl=en&emb=0&start=10

This is a really good documentary. I don't have time to go through the whole thing again, but in another segment they said that another 35% was spent on lobbying. (And I would imagine the final 3% on manufacturing.)

So if big pharma only charged you for R&D (14%), a reasonable profit (6%), and manufacturing (3%), you would be paying less than a quarter of what they are charging you now.

Now instead of $50/month (after insurance's share, not that I have it anymore) I pay $11 for Amlodipine. That's full price.

I pay $16 for 143 Atenolol/Chloro, which is generic Tenoretic.

Most of the above are available in generic form much cheaper than the branded version. Much much cheaper. Also Claritin and Prilosec are available over the counter and as such is quite cheap, especially in generic form - $21.69 for 120 Loratadine tabs from CVS was a price I saw whilst checking - much cheaper than the $215.17

On your list only Prevacid, Lipitor and Celebrex are available in brand form only.

Plus this medicine changing: one I'm familiar with is Celexa and Lexapro, because I'm on 'em.

Lexapro is essentially a slightly modified Celexa. Celexa is now available generic, Lexapro is not.

Lexapro is $227.83 for a 90 day supply, generic Celexa is $94.82 Branded Celexa is more expensive than Lexapro though. (price source is Medco).

Though I do have an issue with the drug companies other than this: wanting to make certain medicines over-the-counter. Last I heard there were rumours about getting Prozac to be over the counter - this gives me the heebiejeebies...

your prices are off quite a bit.

I routinely buy 60 tablets for about $30.

Still, I agree we need to get these costs publicized and talked about.

manufactures it devised "new, prescription-strength Claritin." That's probably the expensive one.

Anyway, if you get the drugstore generic version of Claritin (Loratadine), it works exactly the same and is signficantly less than $30.

Prevacid is much more expensive than the price you quote.

sarcasm

I'll have to get them from Mexico if they fuck up the drug benefit any further......

The republicans are within a city block of this bill so they very well might.

They get their drugs from India. I can find out the better mfgs if you want.

If you see that the drug you're buying from outside the US is made by a reputable Indian mfg then you should be OK. How to define reputable, I'm not sure. But India, with its huge population, makes just about every drug anyone could ever need.

Per captia income in Nepal is about $1100, and the US it is about $47,000. (CIA Factbook PPP data)

So $1.89 * 47000 / 1100 = $80.75 is the most that we should be paying.

Probably even less, since it is likely that US Government research went into inventing the drug.

The average Nepali living in Kathmandu makes more than this. In the villages they make much less. Whole families live on less than $1/day. But farming gives many enough food to make it through much of the year. Except this year, because of the very weak monsoon. Starvation's a'comin.

If you consider that the pharmaceutical companies are pricing somewhat on ability to pay, it is reasonable to have cheaper prices in poor countries. It is similar to the idea that income taxes should be progressive as a help to achieve social justice.

But I agree that use of averages may be a poor measure. It suffers from the the "Bill Gates walked into the bar, and on average we all became billionaires" problem.

Rather than the mean income why not used the median income?

most pills are very cheap to crank out, it's the r&d and regulatory approval that's so expensive.

if/where there's genuine competition in the manufacturing of the pill, it's very cheap, as you saw in nepal. and that will eventually happen in the u.s. once the patent expires, generally after SEVENTEEN YEARS.

in the meanwhile, the patent holder gets an effective monopoly in which to make an absolute fortune.

the right-wing argument is that without the lure of this jackpot, companies wouldn't bother spending so much on r&d and many wonderful meds we have today wouldn't have been developed.

there may be some truth to that, but surely there's a more cost-effective way to provide the necessary incentives.


in any event, one workaround is that competing drug companies often take the patented chemical, make some fairly innocuous change, and get their own patent, restoring some competition. not a perfect solution, but it helps somewhat.

So we are really getting screwed coming and going.

the original mfg. With nice packing.

those profits should then GO to the NIH to further testing and discoveries. not to line the pockets of the CEO and share holders.

and it costs $15 (probably $0.50 in Nepal). I had no idea until I read your post how incredibly fucked we Americans are. I think the world sees us as their patsies. We're suckers for paying just about anything for just about everything. Now I get it. China is eyeing us because they know as long as we indescriminately consume most of the world's resources, they can rake in the dough. All of a sudden I'm depressed.

paid quite a bit less in Istanbul and Naples for a cream the dermatologist recommended for my son.

9 bucks in Istanbul, 25 in Naples and 109. in the US, after the insurance company picked up their portion.

online Canadian Pharmacies.

Congress is very much aware. The drug companies let us pay
for their research etc. Are you not honored. What makes
it worse. Many drug companies now have transferred jobs
out of this country. We still pay their overhead so to speak.
Those campaign contributions really work apparently. You
cannot get enough in the House or Senate willing to stand up
against them.

There have been hearings over last at least 15 years. Nothing
changed.

Being deprived the wonders of the free market and all.
















:sarcasm: in case anyone is confused.

for only a few dollars is that they do indeed make up the difference by charging the people of the US more.

For example, if a company believes it can sell 10 million tablets of a drug at an average cost of $3 USD per tablet it will spread it out so that it averages just that.

So, people in other countries pay $1.80 USD equivalent for 30 tablets, or 6 cents per tablet.

Then, people in the US pay the extra $2.94 USD per tablet to make up the difference, so that the average is $3 USD.

Thus a person in India pays $1.80 USD equivalent for 30 tablets, while a person in the US pays $5.94 per tablet, or $178.20 USD for 30 tablets.

That's 60 tablets for a total of $180, meeting that $3 per tablet average.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/july/senate_help_amendmen.php

"Executive Session on the Affordable Health Choices Act
U.S. Senate HELP Committee
July 13, 2009

Consideration of the Enzi/Hatch/Hagan amendment on establishing a data exclusivity period of 12 years for biotech innovation

...Sen. Tom Harkin: Keep in mind what we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about patents. Everybody gets a 20 year patent… What we’re talking about here is data, data exclusivity… How do you get that data? You get it through FDA supervised trials… Where do they do those clinical trials? Academic health centers. Who supports academic health centers? Our taxpayers… When should that data be released so that another company out there, some other entrepreneurs, can look at the data and say… I’ll bet if we changed this and did this, we might come up with a new formulation that might actually help something else. They’re still going to have to go through their clinical trials… At least they’ll be able to look at the data. If you don’t do that that means that the company can sit on that data for 12 years. Then they let the data out. Clinical trials will take another 7 years or more, so you’re going to have at least a whole 20 year run in there… before anyone can ever surface with anything even comparable to what that drug or that biologic is.

****

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Let’s find out why year after year the drug companies make hugh profits, look at why the drug companies have never once, to the best of my knowledge, have never lost a political debate here in Congress… (medicine) doesn’t do anybody any good if they can’t afford it. I think for year after year we’ve been paying a lot of attention to our friends in PhRMA, who are spending, I don’t know what they spend in lobbying and campaign contributions, a whole lot of money. Maybe it’s time that we start worrying about the people who have to pay for this medicine.

****

Sen. Sherrod Brown: You know what we’ve not talked about, Mr. Chairman? We’re not talking about how much these biologics are costing patients. Let me give you some numbers. (examples)… 48 thousand dollars… 20 thousand dollars …100 thousand dollars. You know what the average wage in my state is? 46 thousand dollars… If we do this giveaway to the drug industry, this giveaway to the biologic companies, it means profits are up for them, it means executive salaries are up for them, it means we can all feel good, but let’s think about the patients, let’s think of the patient with breast cancer who has got to spend 1000 dollars a week… the patient with colon cancer who’s got to spend 2000 dollars a week… What kind of progress is that, Mr. Chairman?

****

The data exclusivity amendment passed by a vote of 16 to 7, with several Democrats voting in support..."

http://biotech-now.org/victory-on-biosimilars-in-senate-help-committee-but-still-a-long-way-from-the-finish-line-071145.html

"Last evening the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee adopted an amendment to the healthcare reform package that provided 12 years of data exclusivity for innovative biologics. This event was a significant victory for our companies and for patients. Two and a half years ago Senator Clinton and Congressman Waxman introduced bills that provided zero years of data exclusivity. Following extensive negotiations, Senators Kennedy, Enzi, Hatch, Schumer and Clinton agreed to a bill with 12 years of data exclusivity and it was reported from Committee in 2007.

While we hoped the deal would hold into the current session of Congress, we observed that Senator Schumer and others were backing away from the agreement. The AARP insisted in a communication to the Senators that it would not support a healthcare bill with double digit data exclusivity. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report suggesting that innovators didn’t need any data exclusivity and soon thereafter the Administration put out a letter supporting 7 years...


...BIO staff, the staff of our companies’ Washington offices, our consultants, our CEO’s and our affiliates went into overdrive to regain support for the original 12-year deal. In discussion with Senate staff, in conversations with Senators and in advertisements we communicated the straightforward truth that without sufficient data exclusivity investment in biologics, R&D would dry up and the promise of new hope for patients would vanish.

Senators Hatch (UT), Enzi (WY) and Hagan (NC) offered an amendment that would restore the original agreement. Their leadership was masterful. Senator Mikulski (MD) was eloquent in the debate last evening. Ultimately we succeeded in defeating an amendment offered by Senator Brown (OH) that would have limited data exclusivity to 7 years and then winning support for the Hatch/Enzi/Hagan amendment by a vote of 16-7. It was a stunning victory that few would have predicted was possible less than two weeks ago.

We are still a long way from finished. We might face battles on the Senate floor as well as in the House. But so far, so good. We need to succeed. Lives are on the line."

because someone wants to make their healthcare more affordable and perhaps prevent them from going bankrupt from medical bills or perhaps dying due to no health insurance. THAT is what makes them angry -- not the lack of healthcare, not the unbelievable prices, not the outrageous compensation of the insurance executives, not the cutting of people with "pre-existing" conditions. No, that is all fine and dandy with them. The other thing -- actually helping people -- THAT is on par with Nazism to them.

The stupidity running rampant in this country is hard to swallow.

these protests are all contrived. No one could really be as fucking stupid as these assholes.

This is what I figured out. It's an asthma medication powder that is inhaled. There are 8 mcg (micrograms NOT milligrams) in one dose, and it costs about $6 a day. I just paid $195.00 for a 30day supply (no insurance).

:banghead:

:grr:

:wtf:

That comes out to about $92 a month, which is not chump change if you are Nepali.

If rent is 4,000 rupees in Kathmandu ($60+)and you have to pay for private school because the govt schools are horrible, what do you have left with which to buy food?

The majority of Nepalis are subsistence farmers. 2 out of 5 years they just get by. 1 of 5 they have a small surplus to sell, making about $50 for the family. And, 2 out of 5 they go hungry and someone heads to India for work. More and more now they head overseas -- the Gulf, Malaysia, the mines of Korea. There are many Nepalis working in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remittances is the single largest source of income in Nepal. Most families rely on them in some way or another.

Yet, the big boys are RICH and getting richer.

I think that $1102 number factors in remittances that can be accounted for. Most Nepalis live on much less than $1/day.

You live in Nepal, obviously you have a better idea about the ground reality there.

:kick:

my friend and I use the same eye medication but have different insurance, I pay $42 she pays $5. Go figure.

lobbyists who are working against you.

$2.00

A single tablet costs $4.00 .. I have prescription coverage -- even then - my monthly co-pay is $23.00.



So Fcuk Nexium .. I get a whole years supply of Nexpro made by a reputed company in India for about $10.00.. I have been acidity free for the past 3 years -- and this completely cured my Barret's disease .. ( hardening of the esophagus cells) that is pre-cancerous.

Including all medications, for slightly over $500 U.S. This was without using my insurance, since my policy did not cover treatment overseas.

Welcome to capitalism, American style.

Hard to keep a lid on things like this.

Canada Health Solutions providing comparison of Allegra Cost across multiple countries: http://www.canadahealthsolutions.com/RXMednet/ext_druglist.asp?a=BC8828&search=allegra

in his drug deal with the companies--we save $8 billion in the same time that they make $1.2 trillion--great deal, Obama!

The UK and France are also so much cheaper. I was living in both countries for a while about 18 months ago.

P.S....Thanks for your post :)

I fork out nearly $400 a month for Prevacid if I buy it in the U.S. (I'm in the Medicare donut hole, thanks to it, so I pay 100%). The Canadian pharmacy I used to be able to buy it for at (I forget) 60% or so of that is no longer able to get it because BigPharma is cutting off the supply to pharmacies in Canada who sell to U.S. customers.

So they offered me an Indian version, at about $100 a month. It has been sitting on my counter as I debate whether to try it and if it's poisonous or something. Meds from Canada or the UK, I have no qualms about, but India is a different matter.

Anyone have any info about Indian made meds? Thanks.

check a site like drugbuyers.com. Register for free and you can search their database for information from others who have used pharmacies both in the US and everywhere. There are legit sites out there, but there are also some rip-off artists who aren't selling what they claim to be. Takes a little time and patience to search, but you should be able to find the information you need.

They serve the local expat crowd, tourists and rich Tibetans. I think they pick and choose between mfgs but I'm not as ruble to say which ones are good.

Death Panels here. Can't pay? You suffer and die? It's that simple.

I used to half believe BigPharma when they talked about folding research costs into med prices. That was before I read a NYTmes article on how they were charging terminal cancer patients fantastic amounts, way more than any possible research and manufacturing costs, for meds that extended their lives by 1-3 months. The Pharma guys quoted in the article admitted it and laughed about it.

"Hmm... How do we make a buck off of this?"

Most of them are forged placebos or tainted with toxic substances.
You forget that the indian and chinese CEOs are also greedy.

I know a guy who had a stroke and was permanently paralyzed after taking a tainted drug he got at a pharmacy in Shanghai.

On the other hand, where do you think the drugs at your local pharmacy come from?

"China is already the world's largest producer of active ingredients used to make both generic and brand-name medicines, and it has steadily gained market share by offering lower prices than competitors such as India."

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2008/06/fear_factor_accompanies_generi.html

All our reps are for that! Oh wait-that's only for corporations. AH, what stoopid fucking tools Americans are. Those congress people must laugh themselves silly to sleep every night thinking of what tools we really are.

checking out "the blogs" and this post is just ANOTHER reason why I stay so depressed!!

I WANT the information so I know what's going on, but when I DO get the specifics it makes me even more upset! I say this in all honesty, and the reality is that no matter what I do, it's a losing battle!!!

My real cynicism started with BFEE, but continues to this day and it doesn't seem to be getting better! All this Health Care Reform sounds like more of a joke than anything else, and I'm beginning to think that no matter what the reform is, it's NOT going to be one that really helps "we the people" all that much!

Now, after that rant... I'm speechless and once again left with NO ANSWERS!!!

They've caused so many bankruptcies... run businesses into the ground... and even caused the deaths of people, all for their dividends and executive salaries and bonuses... for the bottom line.

But of course, none of that matters to the parasites in DC.

they need to wake up and smell the coffee!

Thanks for the thread, Shanti Mama.

She's on several drugs that have no generics and there is no way she can afford to get them in the US. And you can't even get Ventolin in the US anymore (it's apparently responsible for global warming. Who knew?) and it's substitute, you guessed it, is significantly more expensive.

I do suggest you do your homework before buying on-line. There are a couple of really good sites out there that can help you navigate.

I can't believe my post made it to the top of the Greatest!

$45 and 50 minutes total time;
Straight to a specialist upon walking into the gleaming high end hospital.
The Dr spoke great english and she fixed a problem I went to 6 allopathic Dr's, 1 specialist, and 2 naturopaths - to heal.
From the Dr we went to a one-stop pharmacy/cashier counter. Dirt cheap medicine. And this was more expensive at the hospital I was told!

My ailment was gone in 2 weeks never came back. I had suffered for 12 years with it.

I spent thousands in America and took many chemical compounds. Nothing worked but they were willing to sell me more of it.

Yes it is fucked up in America and I blame the corporate media. Chickens will vote for Colonel Sanders after enough TV News.

.75 cents a bottle for allergy meds that cost me $15 in the US.

For about $12 I could go to the VIP emergency room and get any test I wanted with no waiting and walk out with a bag full of free prescription medications.

And then my insurance would cover the $12.

The cost of living adjustment isn't that huge. (It's the equivalent of going to the ER in the US and getting all your tests and medications for about $80-90).

I did this over the course of several years for: a broken foot, pneumonia, breast cancer screening, and five or six cases of severe food poisoning which required rehydrating with IV fluids. No visit ever cost me more than $12, including meds.

being beaten with rubber hoses when they aproach their kindly old Dr.
It's almost like that here.

If poor countries can do it then why can't people here see the facts and change their minds?

I didn't have the insurance I have, I would have had to dish out $700 for an oral mild anti-biotic to treat acne, instead of a $10 co-pay. 700 wing wangs to treat acne if you don't have insurance. Its disgusting and disgraceful.

access to medicines should be a basic human right, not a profit industry.

In many countries it is, as least closer to that than in the USA.