Regulations requiring drug companies to include the retail pricing of prescription drugs in their advertising are meaningless.
Virtually nobody pays that price.
The real issue is why is advertising allowed in the first place. You can’t buy a drug on your own, your physician must prescribe the drug and in doing so must consider all your medical conditions and all the drugs you may be taking.
Physicians are well informed on available drugs. The only purpose of advertising is to create artificial demand, which in turn increases health care spending.
Ever notice how everyone in those commercials are happy even if they “may” live 6 months longer taking this new drug. There is the truth in advertising? Now when medical marijuana starts advertising, I’ll believe that those people are happy. Heck, some pizza chain might even pay for the spot if their pizza commercial can follow the marijuana commercial.
If I talked to my doctor to see if every drug advertised is “right for me”, we would never get around to why I was there in the first place.
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Now that makes sense, Quinn – I love it when they say don’t take it if you are allergic to it – how do you know until you take it – And, “Tell your doctor what other medications you are taking” – my doctor already knows that – he prescribed all of them! DUH!
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You’re right, but there are people who takes a dozen or more Rx from different doctors and nobody talks to each other. I had a relative who was a near vegetable. One of her children took her to a new doctor who reviewed her many medications. He took her off all but a couple and she improved dramatically and quickly.
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