I have a bridge to sell you

The Pharmaceutical Industry – largely responsible for health care being unaffordable to most Americans, has increased their prices by 9% in the past year, according to an article in the New York Times today.

In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.

So while this country is still deep in recession, boasting some of the highest unemployment numbers (10.2% as of October, 2009) since 1983, and still climbing despite optimistic predictions by the current administration, the drug industry is moving to increase their profits to unconscionable levels. The least time they had such sweeping industry-wide price gouging (is this price-fixing?) was when Congress added drug benefits to Medicare.

The average annual cost for a brand-name, life-saving drug that is taken daily would be $2,000. The drug cost alone would be 10% of the average income of many retired people, or the average WalMart employee.

If we could bring the cost of health care down – there would be no friggin’ need for insurance. But then, all of these CEO’s that bring in $5 million a year or more by creating ways to destroy people’s lives, take away their houses, and put them into bankruptcy to line their wallets with even more cash might have to get real jobs that truly benefit society.