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The real scandal of EpiPen pricing
NRO ^ | 25 Aug 2016 | Kevin Williamson

Posted on 08/25/2016 11:02:40 PM PDT by Rummyfan

A couple of years ago, I got my front teeth knocked out by a combination of bad decisions and gravity. I had never so much as seen the inside of a dentist’s office, so I didn’t really know what to expect. The reality was amazing: I went to a tiny little office a few blocks down from National Review’s palatial penthouse at Buckley Towers, where a lovely young Indian immigrant gazed into my mug and compared some enamels samples like a painter trying to decide whether your living room is actually “Westhighland white” or more of a “Restoration ivory,” and then whipped up some new teeth, first a temporary set and then, a week or so later, permanent replacements. Cost a few hundred bucks.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: adrenaclick; bresch; epinephrine; epipen; medicine; mylan; nro
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Bernie Sanders doesn’t have the first clue how an EpiPen works or what went into developing it, but he’s sure he knows what one should cost, and he’s sure who should decide — him. You know what Bernie Sanders is? He’s a bum. He was damn near 40 years old before he ever found his way into a full-time job, and that was in elected office; before that, he collected benefits, sold his creepy rape fantasies for left-wing newspapers at $50 a pop, and never lifted a finger toward any genuinely productive enterprise. He’s been suckling greedily at the public teat since way back when he could remember where his car keys are. Funny thing, though: Now he’s a bum with a third home on the waterfront of a Vermont island worth the better part of a million dollars. Every good apparatchik eventually gets his dacha.

Mrs. Clinton is a bum and a crook who used the State Department as a funnel to guide the money of favor-seeking business interests at home and abroad into the Clinton Foundation, a sham charity that exists to pay six-figure salaries to Clintons (Chelsea is full-time executive there) and their courtiers


1 posted on 08/25/2016 11:02:40 PM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Blue Jays

Chelsea Clinton was drawing a $600K salary right out of college.
She is undoubtedly drawing $1M+ annually these days.

2 posted on 08/25/2016 11:07:59 PM PDT by Blue Jays
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To: Blue Jays

Chelsea famously said, “I tried to care about money but just couldn’t.”

I think she lives in a $10 million apartment in NYC.


3 posted on 08/25/2016 11:19:25 PM PDT by ZagFan
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To: ZagFan

Yes she does and the apartment is a full block long! Twenty NYC blocks makes exactly 1 mile...so now you know exactly how big her apartment is.


4 posted on 08/25/2016 11:29:16 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Rummyfan

As to the article, a little diffuse. I would call it nonresponsive. Why was the price suddenly raised by a factor of six? I didn’t see that addressed. Maybe I missed it, which is entirely possible.


5 posted on 08/25/2016 11:34:45 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew

It mentioned the Obamacare medical device tax.


6 posted on 08/26/2016 12:16:08 AM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Rummyfan

KD makes some good points in this article.


7 posted on 08/26/2016 12:39:29 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: Rummyfan

One difference between dentistry and medicine is one odes not see one quarter of the commercials on TV suggesting one contact a lawyer about something the dentist might have done.


8 posted on 08/26/2016 1:04:28 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: dr_lew

The author makes a few goods points about Clinton & Bernie and the medical device tax, but the ACA device tax would only account for about $5. of the increase. Basically, Ms. Bresch at Mylan got demand for the “Epipen” to jump dramatically by using her dad the U.S. senator to help push thru mandatory “epinephrine auto-injector” legislation for schools & airlines and also a lot of high-priced advertising to parents of allergic kids that they had to have Epipens. Unfortunately those parents/schools only think of “Epipen” when thinking of “epinephrine auto-injector”...sorta like Crescent wrench instead of “adjustable open-end wrench” or “Kleenex” instead of “tissue”. Sales skyrocketed and she jacked the price to match. Fortunately there are other suppliers of “epinephrine auto-injectors”....including “Adrenaclick” for about the cost of Epipen 10 years ago, and the usage instructions are very similar “remove safety caps, place needle end against the thigh and push firmly for 10 seconds”. :

http://adrenaclick.com

http://www.goodrx.com/adrenaclick

Usage:
http://adrenaclick.com/how_to_use_adrenaclick_epinephrine_injection_USP_auto_injector.php

https://www.epipen.com/about-epipen/how-to-use-epipen


9 posted on 08/26/2016 1:05:18 AM PDT by Drago
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To: Drago

Thank you for that explanation. I guess this fits the mold of “generic vs. brand name”, which we see ( cough cough ) in other medications.


10 posted on 08/26/2016 1:11:32 AM PDT by dr_lew
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To: Drago
and the usage instructions are very similar “remove safety caps, place needle end against the thigh and push firmly for 10 seconds”. :

GAS GAS GAS

Reminds me of the old nerve agent antidote needles we had in the 1980's in the military. Every once in awhile, someone would be practicing and puncture themselves. They acted like it hurt a lot. I learned from their experiences.
11 posted on 08/26/2016 1:17:28 AM PDT by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
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To: wbarmy

Yep, the “nerve gas antidote” injector is very similar....good call! (It is diazepam/Valium tho.). Some also thought that Hillary’s “medic”/SS agent was carrying a diazepam injector...I don’t think that was it, but oh well.

A military “flashback” for you: https://youtu.be/veDsMEBYxz8

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/831648-medication


12 posted on 08/26/2016 1:42:30 AM PDT by Drago
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To: SoFloFreeper

Actually, he didn’t. He totally ignored the connection with CGI at all, and he made light of the product’s exorbitant cost to families by saying they could cancel their cable subscriptions in order to afford it. He’s a never-Trump member and has shown his true colors again...that he supports Hillary and is no friend to conservatives.


13 posted on 08/26/2016 1:42:39 AM PDT by Prince of Space (Be Breitbart, baby. LIFB.)
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To: Prince of Space

Not only that, but the whole “creative, inventive, R&D cost” argument doesn’t even apply in this case. Mylan didn’t invent the EpiPen, they purchased the patents for it. So the cogent and relevant argument would be to compare the revenue they are making from EpiPen sales to the cost of acquiring those rights. Had he done his homework, or had any interest in the actual costs involved in producing this life-saving device, he would report that the actual manufacturing cost of epinephrine is only $1 per dose or what the auto-injector device actually costs. The fact that competitors can produce it and sell at a profit for $100 while Mylan is charging $600 is also missing from the story.

Of course, that would not feed the narrative that “a child’s life is worth any price”. That attitude is the root of the hyperbolic inflation in healthcare costs. It seems like every life saving treatment now requires you sign away your expected earnings for the rest of that life. It is legalized price gouging. It is also extortion, with government forcing you to buy insurance to cover procedures but sticking you with a deductible or co-pay amount higher than a free market would place on the service without insurance.

It is articles like this that make Republicans look bad — like we are all greedy jerks always taking the side of big business no matter how outrageous their behavior. I suspect in this case it is intentional, and part of the never-Trump movement to throw away the election.


14 posted on 08/26/2016 2:25:12 AM PDT by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
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To: Prince of Space

And he “works” at a magazine that largely derives its source of funding from foundations. Much like NPR.


15 posted on 08/26/2016 2:39:26 AM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Rest In Peace MeekMom (1966-2016))
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To: Rummyfan

Anyone can buy this stuff online for a quarter of the price or use natural treatments. Only morons actually pay the sticker price.


16 posted on 08/26/2016 2:53:56 AM PDT by SteelToe
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To: Blue Jays

Chelsea Clinton paid $10 MILLION DOLLARS for her NYC Apt.!!!! HOW??? Clinton Crime Family Slush Fund MONEY??? PROBABLY!


17 posted on 08/26/2016 3:10:40 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion....... The HUMAN Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: SteelToe

Unfortunately, when a child has a severe, potentially life-threatening version of the allergy, who wants to take a chance on an alternative bought off the ‘net?


18 posted on 08/26/2016 3:19:16 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: Prince of Space

I think he made an excellent case that politicians have not cured or created anything in the medical field. And he made some very appropriate observations regarding the hypocrisy of Bernie and Hillary.

Why do you think he is pro-Clinton?


19 posted on 08/26/2016 3:46:16 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: P.O.E.

Nothing magic about eppipen. Epinephrine is Epinephrine, and was available OTC up till this Senator got the law passed to help his spawn’s corporate profits.


20 posted on 08/26/2016 3:46:55 AM PDT by wrench
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