The generic is half the price.
It is priced at what the market can bear.
Does Tamiflu actually work and is your life worth more than 116 dollars?
There's no reason to think it would have helped her since she fell ill on Monday and was diagnosed on Wednesday.
This story sure has made the rounds on socialist networking sites for the past 4 days.
Was her death an injustice? Was it self inflicted?
Is the press more interested in messaging than that someone died?
Just because the big-government/big-Pharma criminal complex offers to sell you a cure for the “flu” does not mean they actually have one.
The only important thing to them is that you fork over your money.
https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20121114/does-tamiflu-work-questions-continue#1
Or did she acquire that in the hospital?
She was a teacher and couldn’t afford 116 dollars..I feel sorry for her and her family but really..what was her hourly wage, 50 cents an hour?
My bet is that the packaging costs more to make than the Tamiflu.
I think Tamiflu is helpful for some especially in making the symptoms more bearable, but to say a healthy 38 year old woman was an idiot for declining to pay for it is a reach.
“Her husband bought the Tamiflu medicine for $116 (£84) a day before she went to hospital, but it was too late.
Experts think the current flu outbreak may be one of the worst in US history.”
US teacher dies after opting out of ‘costly’ flu medicine
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43039036
I would like to make two points:
1. People spend a lot of money on cell phones, internet, etc., but don’t want to spend money on life-saving medication. It’s a choice.
2. The husband did buy her the medicine and she died anyway — it was a really bad flu and apparently Tamiflu was not able to help.
We don’t know the details but she had both a job and a husband. Presumably. The medicine was obtainable for her. ( and I know of no country health department or hospital that would deny such treatment in case she really couldn’t come up with a hundred bucks herself). It’s very foolish to play games with influenza, it CAN kill. And does at times. And has killed many thousands over the years. It so sad to hear of a death when it probably was preventable. But short of medicating her by force — ? She made a bad decision is all we can say. Pray for her
The victim of the disease was described by her husband as a "passionate woman, who devoted all her life to helping others, and loved by children".
How does her husband feel about the orphaned children?
I thought Obamacare was supposed to fix this.
I don’t want to judge her or her family. They are already in pain. I feel sorry for this situation. Very sorry. It’s a tragedy.
Here in Atlanta, GA we are getting barraged with news media report of the widespread (at least they avoid the word “epidemic”) flu outbreak. Every outlet is hollering, “Get the flu shot. Get to the doctor”.
I work in IT and we are out and about doing office/home calls everyday, six days a week.
There is no one that is talking about this on a personal level of them, family members, or friends being ill with the flu. If it was an outbreak there would be such talk.
I have 2 questions to ask everyone.
Are you going to come back and read the answers?
Pneumonia ?
Felt sick on Monday. Diagnosed with flu on Weds and prescribed Tamiflu on Weds. Decided it was too expensive. Then took it on Thurs.
She went into septic shock.
Did Dr. mis-diagnosed symptoms ? The flu can cause septic shock.
Tamiflu is most effective within 72 of exposure. Tamiflu could also have cause the septic shock.
What’s the point of this story ? ( rhetorical )
How many people die from taking prescription medicines every year?
It's really unclear at this point whether this is the worst, and not everyone who is getting the flu are getting the same stain. It does seem to have high virulence, though. Regarding the cost of flu medication, I think there are two separate questions about cost. The first is “is it worth the $116?”. My answer is yes, if it gives a reasonable chance of not dying. This poor women is leaving behind a husband and two young children. You can't put a price on these children having their mother. That said, it also has to be kept in mind that the efficacy of Tamiflu is not universally subscribed, and to be effective it is thought that it needs to be started within the first 48 hours of symptoms. Even with those vagaries, I still think that the price is worth it if you are at risk and there is a reasonable assumption that you will be helped.
The second question is “does the cost of R&D and production warrant the price of this medication?”. That's a much tougher one to answer. The wholesale price is substantially lower, so it would seem that the price is being hiked because there is an increase in demand. I have no problem with pharmaceutical companies making money, but just like being gouged by stores during a hurricane etc., it is wrong to price gouge people in need.