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Sounds like your brother was doing all the right things. Yet, his cholesterol still wouldn’t go down. My guess is his doctor has prescribed a medication and hopefully his cholesterol level has improved.
I mentioned earlier I was on the Japanese National Health care for many years. Wegovy in available in Japan and covered under the national insurance.
But...I suspect Japanese doctors will have to be satisfied the individual has done everything possible to lose weight before writing a prescription.
It was TMS Retired who said it. But when I responded to her post, you responded back so I thought it was you.
Then you were wrong to come at me and now stand corrected.
I hate all politicians with the exact same white hot heat of 1,000 suns. Obama is just one of that countless rabble of sociopaths. He is no more or less noteworthy than any of the others.
As I said, if Leviathan assaults me in order for someone to get an injection that lets them eat donuts and ice cream all day long without consequence....it's just another brick in the wall.
But I am clear that I do not hate the person choosing their "get out of consequences free" solution, I hate that Leviathan wants me to pick up the tab. If you are going to quote me, use MY quotes.
Then you were wrong to come at me and now stand corrected.
I hate all politicians with the exact same white hot heat of 1,000 suns. Obama is just one of that countless rabble of sociopaths. He is no more or less noteworthy than any of the others.
As I said, if Leviathan assaults me in order for someone to get an injection that lets them eat donuts and ice cream all day long without consequence....it's just another brick in the wall.
But I am clear that I do not hate the person choosing their "get out of consequences free" solution, I hate that Leviathan wants me to pick up the tab. If you are going to quote me, use MY quotes.
Well again, I was responding to a poster's specific post, and then you responded to that. I can't remember every post I respond to on every thread, or who said it.
I'm sorry, I'm home with Covid and feel like crap, and I don't have the attention span to read all that!
Much of it is about the information asymmetry in medicine. Patient vs doctor vs insurance company, and they know. In the end the risks of caring for seniors is too great for free markets. And when there is a social need where the privates fear to tread, government may step in to provide a solution. Like Medicare.
You blamed him for enacting affordable health insurance and expanding access to health insurance, because that health insurance is paying for these drugs (although they are not, as far as I am aware, covered if you don't have diabetes).
I blamed him for nationalizing health insurance and ending prior plans and jacking premiums up sky high.
ACA did NOT fix health insurance because a decade later...premium are sky high and ACA did nothing about drug costs.
Other countries negotiate prices....$260 in Mexico. The US doesn't...$900-1500 here.
Yes I blame him and all the Dems for enacting a horrendous law that only enriches the pockets of insurance and big Pharma.
And..."any chronic disease" and being fat covers you for wegovy now.
I blamed him for nationalizing health insurance and ending prior plans and jacking premiums up sky high.
ACA did NOT fix health insurance because a decade later...premium are sky high and ACA did nothing about drug costs.
Other countries negotiate prices....$260 in Mexico. The US doesn't...$900-1500 here.
Yes I blame him and all the Dems for enacting a horrendous law that only enriches the pockets of insurance and big Pharma.
And..."any chronic disease" and being fat covers you for wegovy now.
ACA didn't "nationalize" health insurance, it subsidized it to enable everyone to have access to health insurance. There are a lot of people that have benefited from ACA. I am one of them, and I know you have heard from many others on these boards.
Premiums went up because it forced insurers to cover basic necessary things like chemotherapy, and because it ended lifetime limits and pre-existing conditions. Those are good things. If the mandate had held up, premiums would not be as high, because younger, healthier people would have balanced out the sicker, older people.
You should blame big Pharma lobbies for the lack of negotiation, and that's hardly just a Democrat problem. Why didn't Bush allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices when he enacted Medicare part D? Big pharma lobbyists.
Per Senate analysis, outrageously priced weight-loss drugs could bankrupt US health care
Prices would need to be dramatically slashed to avoid increasing the national deficit.
If just half of the adults in the US with obesity start taking a new weight-loss drug, such as Wegovy, the collective cost would total an estimated $411 billion per year, the analysis found. That's more than the $406 billion Americans spent in 2022 on all prescription drugs combined.
It will easily lead to spikes in health insurance premiums—taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs will also see an extraordinary financial burden.
The drugmakers would have to slash prices of their weight-loss drugs by 90% to "get in the ballpark" of not increasing the national deficit and set their US prices to match the relatively low prices they've set in other countries.
Example: it cost $1300/month in the US, vs $186/month in Denmark.
A study by researchers at Yale estimated that drugs like Wegovy can be profitably manufactured for less than $5 per month.
GREED!!!
First, the cost to manufacture a new drug is a small fraction of the cost of the drug. The researchers who develop these drugs are very high-priced PhD's and MD's or both. These very expensive people use very expensive equipment. It takes many years to develop a new drug and then a long time to do the clinical trials to get the drug approved. Many drugs fail during that process. All of those costs are part of the cost of the products they can actually sell
Next, the list price of these drugs might be over $1,000 but the large pharmacy companies like Caremark, Express Scripts and the large drugstore chains are not paying that.
Third, the $411 billion amount is much higher than the amount I saw in an article just today. That number was more like $100 billion and that was not until more than five years from now.
Fourth, there are many more of these drugs in the pipeline. As they are approved the price will come down.
Last, the impact of obesity on the economy: "the negative macroeconomic impact is estimated to be 3.6% of U.S. gross domestic product with a potential $1.24 trillion in indirect costs from lost productivity
The drug companies are very profitable as an industry and they do seem to allocate most of the overhead to the US market. The real question is why the PBMs and drugstore chains do not put more pressure on the drug companies.
1)
3) Whether it saves money relative to the spend on the health problems related to obesity or not, the simple fact is that obesity is a CONDITION OF CHOICE. Calories in < calories out is a scientific, biological fact of weight loss. Calories in is 100% choice, and calories out can be measured, monitored, increased and decreased according to choices. Thus, whatever these miracle weight loss "save me from the hard work of dealing with the consequences of my own actions" drugs cost falls under the heading "too bad, so sad, suck it up, Buttercup" Everyone (98%, of everybody, that is) who is obese chose to be that way, so whatever their remedies cost them is irrelevant to anyone and everyone else.
Wrong on multiple grounds. Your statement, “the simple fact is that obesity is a CONDITION OF CHOICE” reflects a total misunderstanding of obesity, and frankly is a condescending and judgmental attitude that is completely unhelpful to those who are struggling with weight loss. And it is factually WRONG.
There seems to be a lot of that going around.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wartrace
It is pitiful that people would resort to drugs rather than changing their lifestyle. For the majority of people simply reducing their food intake and increasing their exercise routine would be much better for them than an expensive magic pill.
Better, yes; easier, no. On the other hand, using a pill as a tool as you're building healthier habits is not a bad thing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
It is the shame I feel after I’m “bad” that leads me to eat more. That’s why fat shaming doesn’t work. A lot of obese people have food and eating disorders, IMO.
And as you hinted, psychological and physiological issues come into play: food is love, stress eating, emotional eating, hormonal changes, metabolic changes, etc. etc. etc. Guilt on overeating can lead to shame, or to a "screw it" reaction that causes more overeating. It's a complex issue, and anyone saying all you have to do is eat less and move more has no idea what they're talking about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Volobjectitarian
I shouldn't have to pay for weight loss drugs anymore than I should have to pay for someone's open heart surgery because they were 300 pounds overweight. I don't care which is cheaper, because making me even partially responsible for either cost is tyranny.
You are aware of the concept of group health insurance, yes? How it works? I'm paying for your drugs and procedures, and you're paying for mine?
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