When we have major legislation anticipated, we see a run-up in price increases. According to the New York Times, thats how Stephen Schondelmeyer, a pharmaceutical economics expert at the University of Minnesota reacted to the news that drug companies have raised prices an average of 9 percent in the face of upcoming health care reform. In other words, Schondelmeyer is saying, thats just the way these guys work. When theres a chance the government could cut into the industrys obscenely high profits, up go the prices. Researchers at Harvard found the same kind of price increases after Congress added drug benefits to Medicare earlier this decade.
Oh, and the agreement the drug industry had with the White House to cut $8 billion per year from Americas drug bill via rebates to seniors and the government? You guessed it -- this years 9 percent price increases cancel out the agreements first year savings.
Writer Timothy Egan wrote a piece last week in which he noted that more and more Americans are angry because they now feel that our system our social contract, if you will is rigged against them, to the benefit of large corporations. Personally, I wonder whats taken folks so long to make the connections, but with drug companies and health insurance companies gouging consumers for all theyre worth and more not to mention taxpayer-rescued financial giants giving out $30 billion in new bonuses the illusion that corporate honchos give a flying damn about average Americans is fading faster than a Wal-Mart shirt.