Follow the Money. Contraception Debate is Run by Big Pharma

While everyone is busy arguing about religious rights and freedoms (valid points to be sure) Big Pharma is sitting on the sidelines rubbing its hands together in glee. The $635 million Big Pharma has spent in lobbying during the current administration is paying of for them big time. Drug companies aren't worried about people getting condoms. They're after the big time money that's spent on brand-name birth control drugs and with the help of the government they're going to get just what they've been after.

Forget for a minute the religious question and look at who wins big here: Big Pharma. This mandate is not really about condoms or generic versions of “the pill,” which are available free or cheap in lots of places. This is about brand-name birth control drugs and other devices that some consumers swear off because they are too expensive.

Big Pharma’s Role in the Contraception Debate - The Daily Beast

Once birth control is forced upon the insurance companies at a no-copay and no deductible cost then we can expect the prices to skyrocket. There would be no incentive for companies to keep the cost down. Name-brand pills will be marketed to women who will of course choose these brands over others even if they don't work any better than the cheaper brands. Why should the consumer care if the cost is of no importance to them? The end result will be that the cost of insurance will go up for everyone since insurance companies will have to raise prices elsewhere to cover the margin loss in the birth control payments. They extra money you'll spend on insurance will be going right in to the pockets of Big Pharma.

Do you really think that this is about concern for individuals? Follow the money if you're unsure and you'll find the answer. Remember, nothing should scare you more than to hear "We're from the government and we're here to help."

given here in the UK you get contraception (pill/injection etc) for free so long as its for birth control usage but technically not for the other medical conditions it can help alleviate but everyone ticks the box for birthcontrol pretty much

i think that it'll be pretty hard to price birth control as women are not tins of beans where its a standard commodity and what works for one woman may not work for another so most women will want the pill that works regardless of if its $1 a month or $10000 a month so i doubt that 'brand' will overly influence a womans choice over it doing what its supposed to do without causing her one of the many side effects that can occur

reply to post by dbates

Once large sections of the population are on these hormones there will be an added side-effect, the same as from all the people who regularly take the more medicating meds regularly. Not all the drug/hormone gets used up by the human body and is passed through into the sewers. The water gets processed again and presto hey, drinking water containing small amounts of hormones and drugs. It has happened here.

Now, who wants some moobs? (Man boobs)

Originally posted by dbates
While everyone is busy arguing about religious rights and freedoms (valid points to be sure) Big Pharma is sitting on the sidelines rubbing its hands together in glee. The $635 million Big Pharma has spent in lobbying during the current administration is paying of for them big time. Drug companies aren't worried about people getting condoms. They're after the big time money that's spent on brand-name birth control drugs and with the help of the government they're going to get just what they've been after.

Forget for a minute the religious question and look at who wins big here: Big Pharma. This mandate is not really about condoms or generic versions of “the pill,” which are available free or cheap in lots of places. This is about brand-name birth control drugs and other devices that some consumers swear off because they are too expensive.

Big Pharma’s Role in the Contraception Debate - The Daily Beast

Once birth control is forced upon the insurance companies at a no-copay and no deductible cost then we can expect the prices to skyrocket. There would be no incentive for companies to keep the cost down. Name-brand pills will be marketed to women who will of course choose these brands over others even if they don't work any better than the cheaper brands. Why should the consumer care if the cost is of no importance to them? The end result will be that the cost of insurance will go up for everyone since insurance companies will have to raise prices elsewhere to cover the margin loss in the birth control payments. They extra money you'll spend on insurance will be going right in to the pockets of Big Pharma.

Do you really think that this is about concern for individuals? Follow the money if you're unsure and you'll find the answer. Remember, nothing should scare you more than to hear "We're from the government and we're here to help."

edit on 3/7/2012 by dbates because: (no reason given)

But that's what makes America great, right? The whole capitalist system where corporations go unchecked. If you're so jealous of Big Pharma, you are free to go work for them, so you can get a piece of the pie. If this was a socialist country, we wouldn't be having these problems. Of course, we might be having other problems, but not this one.

reply to post by kaylaluv

Government's role in Big Pharma should be only to ensure the medications do exactly what they're advertised to do and nothing more. Government shouldn't be artificially propping up the market place by insisting that company B pays for products from company A at no cost to the consumer. How can that be described as the free market at work?

Originally posted by dbates
reply to post by kaylaluv

 

Government's role in Big Pharma should be only to ensure the medications do exactly what they're advertised to do and nothing more. Government shouldn't be artificially propping up the market place by insisting that company B pays for products from company A at no cost to the consumer. How can that be described as the free market at work?

Government's role is also to ensure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for its people. Don't forget that employees will still be paying premiums. If company B ends up saving money because birth control would be cheaper than the cost of prenatal and postnatal care, then company B wins too, and so do the people who pay premiums. There may be an initial increase in premiums to cover the cost of the contraceptives, but long-term, the overall cost should go down, due to fewer unwanted pregnancies, or surgeries to remove ovaries that could have been regulated by the pill.

If only the Government would be allowed to regulate Big Pharma, by forcing them to charge the same for brand-name drugs as generic - then this would be the perfect set-up. As it is now, I agree - Big Pharma will get a big boost from it. But making it harder for women to access affordable contraceptives is not a good solution either.