RE: Do Gifts From Pharmaceutical Companies Really Affect The Way Doctors Prescribe Drugs?

[justtryme90]

Ironically, I think the very opposite is a better solution. There are insufficient regulations to prevent these sorts of things. Bribery is truly the free market at work :)

Comments

[otraza]

I really used to feel the same, but unfortunately I've noticed two things about gov't interventions in medicine (again this is anecdotal):

1. There's always ways around "regulations" I work in a very specialized field that demands a ton of oversight and there are definitely corners cut due to the fact that we're a huge organization that has close ties to the political elite (within fortune 20) despite heavier regs, and more importantly,
2. Govt intervention has raised the prices of drugs exponentially while taking away patient (consumer) accountability in the form of required coverages, max deductibles, subsidized insurance, etc. I personally saw medicaid coverage bring up a particular seizure medicaton by more than 200x .This has skewed incentives and bloated the industry to create very lucrative and alluring opportunities for nefarious individuals.

Just my 2 satoshis, appreciate the reply!