High health care cost, price-market control. See predatory monopolies - This is communism.

USA, Liberty. In God We Trust . Defend our Constitution. Defend Capitalism - free markets - the key to Prosperity and Freedom.

Terminate illegal government monopolies Medicare, Medicaid  and the price control  in the health care industry.  They are created to control the price, to loot from us,  to maximize their profits  at our cost.

The civilized rule of law Antitrust Law - Sherman Antitrust Act was created to protect all people from crime, corruption, parasites, socialism, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public schools, welfare...communism, fascism, predatory mergers-acquisitions, job-offshoring, illegal imports, bail-outs, subsidies, monopolies, price control, market control, inflation, poverty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

The crime and corruption  by public servants and controlled monopolies against us is everywhere:  the price fixing, price control,  limiting production, limiting supplies, criminal patent law, lack of competition and maximum prices. Most people can not afford the health care anymore.

 Drug companies maximizing profits at our cost.

Take a look at the real cost and maximizing the profits - mark-up from 3,000.00% to 224,973.00 % for Prozac.

In Capitalism with strong competition such mark - up is less than 10%.

This is communist crime, corruption and genocide against American people. This is the biggest crime in the Universe.
You should know why you pay so much for drugs and the whole health care that is the most expensive in the world.

In addition to it, these drug companies are getting taxpayer's grants for the research.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funding_of_science

Terminate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, make them private to take away an opportunity to loot from these programs. Funds are empty now and they were created by communists to loot from us.

See predatory pricing, drug monopolies:

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/oct2002_awsi_01.html

See also this:

Why are drugs so expensive?

The Life Extension Foundation investigated the cost of generic ingredients in sixteen prescription drugs—and discovered they vary from a few pennies per tablet to a few pennies per hundred tablets. Prices for these same products range from 2,800% to 570,000% higher (see the real cost of drugs)—but drug profits are only about 15% of the purchase price.

FDA  seeks to block the Internet to import drugs.

"Even for drugs originally manufactured in the US, the FDA is less tolerant of citizens using the Internet instead of the highways to re- import such drugs from abroad. On September 4th, the Justice Department filed an injunction against Rx Depot, an Oklahoma-based storefront & Internet business, asking a judge to stop it from importing drugs from Canada."

http://www.supplementquality.com/news/skyrocketing_drug_costs.html#...

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/oct2002_awsi_01.html

The truth is also written in the Financial Statements of these drug companies:

You read this crime in the financial statements of these drug companies.

I use monthly publication - the Value Line Investment Survey to see all industry data and the company. You can see the total market share by looking at  Revenue numbers, the cost,
Gross Margin, Net Profit Margin, the taxes and whole capital structure- assets , liabilities/debt and capital... Get all data, compare to other companies, industries and see the truth, the crime...

Health care companies are generating predatory monopoly profits as high as 30% after taxes.(Net profit margin)

In competitive industry, these profits are much smaller in the range  2-5% like Dell computer, in computer industry.

Based on the current Net Profit Margins, I calculated that the prices of drugs and health care related products should be reduced by 50-75%  under strong competition. Add to it also other hidden monopoly costs due to inefficiency, government regulation and the prices should be much lower.

Look at Net Profit Margin of these companies ( profit after taxes) expressed as %. Years 2008 or 2009

Amgen = 29.40%

Pfizer =   33.00%

Glaxo - Smith  = 24.00% -British

Medtronic =22.00%

Dell Computer in competitive Industry - only 5.10%


Data source: Value Line Investment Survey - listing all companies and Industries. Go to library and get it or buy annual publication, the cost about $1,200.00.

There are also other financial reports like Standard and Poor's... company financial statement and reporting to www.sec.gov.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_%26_Poor%27s

https://origin.valueline.com/vlac/logon.aspx?code=200&lp=/secur...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_Line

Use also company financial reporting as per requirements by  www.sec.gov and company website. 

High net profit margin - it means lack of competitive forces, price fixing, collusion,...
crime. You can even predict bankruptcy like Enron by looking at capital structure and leverage of any company.

Obama- Health Care reforms.
Federal Government does not have any legal-constitutional authority to provide health care by forced taxation = terrorism.
Federal Judge Rules "Obamacare" Is Unconstitutional - Health Care Law ruled Unconstitutional 

Medicare - illegal government communist monopoly.

Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other special criteria. Medicare in the United States somewhat resembles a single-payer health care system, but is not. Before Medicare, only 51% of people aged 65 and older had health care coverage, and nearly 30% lived below the federal poverty level. "Original Medicare" plans (when Medicare Advantage has not been elected) cover 80% of the Medicare-approved amount of any given medical cost; the remaining 20% of cost must be paid by either a Medicare Supplement plan, which is a "supplemental insurance" from a private health insurance company (normally requiring a monthly insurance premium paid to that company by the holder), or out-of-pocket via the patient's own personal funds (check, money order, cash, etc.). Medicare Advantage plans are not Medicare Supplements, but take the place of "Original Medicare". In return for a premium, these plans share costs and cap out of pocket expenses.
read more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)


Corruption and crime by public servants and medical practitioners in Medicare Unit.

In the United States, Medicare fraud is a general term that refers to an individual or corporation that seeks to collect Medicare health care reimbursement under false pretenses. There are many different types of Medicare fraud, all of which have the same goal: to collect money from the Medicare program illegitimately.
The total amount of Medicare fraud is difficult to track, because not all fraud is detected and not all suspicious claims turn out to be fraudulent. According to the Office of Management and Budget, Medicare "improper payments" were $47.9 billion in 2010, but some of these payments later turned out to be valid.^[1] The Congressional Budget Office estimates that total Medicare spending was $528 billion in 2010.^[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_fraud


See the corruption in Medicare units by public servants. All contracts that are not based on bidding are not legal. These criminals are charging us with trillions of $ and this is predictable based on calculation that this will drive us to the bankruptcy.

The truth face of high cost of health care, poverty and government corruption can never be hidden. It is written in public financial statements. Learn how to read them to find the evidence and the truth about the cost and government social health care units like Medicare and Medicaid.

See also unfunded liabilities for prescription drugs - $20Trillion  and unfunded Medicare-$80Trillion.  This is the largest crime in the Universe  leading to the bankruptcy. This is a genocide against the people.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/


We spent 2 times more on health care than any other civilized countries.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/health/healthreform/july-dec09/chart_08-18.html


Government is fixing prices, awarding contract in violation of competitive bidding contract law.

"Last year, the Health and Human Services Department tried to replace its archaic fixed-price fee schedule for 10 commonly purchased products with a competitive bidding program in 10 cities. The department said the program could save Medicare $125 million in a single year, or $1 billion if adopted nationwide. But Congress stepped in to stop it. "
There were products that we had as much as 75 percent savings.
The average was 29 percent," said Mike Leavitt, the former HHS secretary who oversaw the program. "It would have saved billions if we could've actually implemented it, but Congress deferred it.
 In Washington speak, that means we put it off forever," he said. Leavitt blames Congressmen Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Dave Camp (R-Mich.) for introducing legislation that terminated the contracts and postponed the program for 18 months.

Leavitt says the congressional intervention helps explain why many are suspicious of claims that Washington can cut enough waste to actually pay for health care reform, as President Obama told a joint session of Congress last month. "Reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan," Leavitt said. "The problem here is one man's waste is another man's living, and whenever there is an effort put forward to actually make an efficiency, someone goes on the offensive and hires lobbyists and does what they can to constrain Congress from doing it," Leavitt said.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the health care industry is currently spending $2 million a day lobbying Congress. Leavitt's pilot program died after small business suppliers claimed it would have put them out of business. Eventually, industry agreed to help pay the cost of terminated contracts that Medicare had already negotiated. Industry officials argued the new system would unfairly disqualify some suppliers, and others with little experience would get the business, causing a decline in quality and service."

It is time to convert government  monopolies Social Security Unit,  Medicare and Medicaid into private competitive companies to stop looting. Poor people should get health care financed by charitable organization- voluntary means.


Fixing prices, limiting supplies, creating shortages.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-IMPACT-Hospital-drug-apf-3800810939.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=

Hospital drug shortages deadly, costly.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A drug for dangerously high blood pressure, normally priced at $25.90 per dose, offered to hospitals for $1,200. Fifteen deaths in 15 months blamed on shortages of life-saving medications.

A growing crisis in the availability of drugs for chemotherapy, infections and other serious ailments is endangering patients and forcing hospitals to buy from secondary suppliers at huge markups because they can't get the medications any other way.

An Associated Press review of industry reports and interviews with nearly two dozen experts found the shortages -- mainly of injected generic drugs that ordinarily are cheap -- have delayed surgeries and cancer treatments, left patients in unnecessary pain and caused hospitals to give less effective treatments. That's resulted in complications and longer hospital stays.
Just over half of the 549 U.S. hospitals responding to a survey this summer by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a patient safety group, said they had purchased one or more prescription drugs from so-called "gray market vendors" -- companies other than their normal wholesalers.
Most also said they've had to do so more often of late, and 7 percent reported side effects or other problems with those drugs.

Hospital pharmacists "are really looking at this as a crisis. They are scrambling to find drugs," said Joseph Hill of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
At a hearing Friday before the health subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, hospital officials and other experts testified that the worsening shortages are preventing them from giving many patients the best care and are driving up costs.

"Considering the nation's budget crisis and our skyrocketing health care bill, these markups are nothing more than profiteering at the expense of patients and providers who are struggling to afford vital medicines," said Mike Alkire, chief operating officer of Premier Healthcare Alliance, a group that helps U.S. hospitals and other health providers improve their patient care and finances.

The shortages could cost hospitals at least $415 million a year, he said, citing data from health care providers across the nation. So far, hospitals have been absorbing the extra costs, but they'll soon have to start passing them on to insurers and patients, according to the American Hospital Association.

The scarcity of mainstay cancer drugs is not only hurting patients but is halting or disrupting clinical studies of potential new treatments, said Dr. Robert S. DiPaola, director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

"The drug shortages of today can have a ripple effect on the availability of new drugs and treatment combinations tomorrow," he told the committee.
On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration is holding a meeting with medical and consumer groups, researchers and industry representatives to discuss the shortages and strategies to fight them.
The FDA says the primary cause of the shortages is production shutdowns because of manufacturing problems, such as contamination and metal particles that get into medicine.
Other reasons include theft of prescription drugs from warehouses or during shipment, as well as the "gray market" vendors who buy scarce drugs from small regional wholesalers, pharmacies or other sources and then sell them to hospitals at many times the normal price. These sellers may not be licensed, authorized distributors.

In addition, many companies have stopped making generic injected drugs because the profit margins are slim. Producing them is far more expensive than stamping out pills, and it takes about three weeks to produce a batch. Making things worse, companies don't have to notify customers or the FDA that they've stopped making a medicine. That means neither FDA nor competitors can fill the gap in time.

Only a half-dozen companies make the vast majority of injected generics. Even if other companies wanted to begin making a drug in short supply, they're discouraged by the lengthy, expensive process of setting up new manufacturing lines and getting FDA approval.

Hospitals that buy scarce medicines from the "gray market" are taking a gamble.
The drugs may be stolen and hospitals can't always tell whether a medicine was properly refrigerated -- as required for many injectable drugs -- or whether it's past the expiration date, said Michael R. Cohen, a pharmacist and president of the institute. The active ingredient might have degraded and the drug might not work well or could even harm the patient, he said.

Cohen attributes at least 15 recent deaths to drug shortages, either because the right drug wasn't available or because of dosing errors or other problems in administering or preparing alternative medications. But many deaths and injuries go unreported, he said.

In the worst known case, Alabama's public health department this spring reported nine deaths and 10 patients harmed due to bacterial contamination of a hand-mixed batch of liquid nutrition given via feeding tubes because the sterile pre-mixed liquid wasn't available.
So far this year, 210 drugs have been added to the list of those in short supply, one less than the total for all of last year, according to the University of Utah Drug Information Service, which tracks the shortages. That's triple the roughly 70 a year from 2003 to 2006, when shortages began to climb steadily.

"The shortages aren't resolving. They're piling up on top of existing ones," said Erin Fox, a pharmacist who manages the service. She said at least 55 drugs from shortages before this year are still unavailable or scarce.

The average price markup on drugs sold by secondary distributors was 650 percent, according to an Aug. 16 report by the Premier Healthcare Alliance. The figure is based on an analysis of 636 unsolicited sales offers that were faxed and emailed to hospitals from secondary distributors in April and May.

Virtually every offer was for at least double the normal price, the survey found. The drugs with the highest markups were for critically ill patients needing anesthesia or other medicines for surgery or for emergency care, cancer, infectious diseases and pain management.

In an extreme case, one vendor was offering a generic beta blocker for dangerously high blood pressure, normally priced at $25.90 per dose, for $1,200.

The FDA says it must uphold quality standards but also works hard to prevent shortages.
"When FDA detects a contaminant, whether it be shards of glass or metal particles or an infectious agent, we have to take action to protect the public," said Dr. Peter Lurie, a senior adviser in the FDA commissioner's office.
When such problems force a company to shut down production, the FDA urges other manufacturers to boost their output and expedites any approvals needed, said Valerie Jensen, associate director of the agency's drug shortage program. When raw materials used to make drugs are in short supply, the FDA tries to find new sources.

The agency averted 38 shortages last year, Jensen added. Another 99 have been prevented so far this year, Howard K. Koh, assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, told the committee.

Legislation pending in the House and Senate would increase penalties for drug thefts from warehouses and tractor-trailers. Another proposal, which has bipartisan support, would require drug manufacturers anticipating a shortage to immediately notify the FDA.

The pitches hospitals get from secondary distributors generally say they have small batches of specific drugs that are hard or impossible to find. "Are you enjoying this crazy `roller coaster ride' of pharmaceutical shortages? ... I utilize over 60 vendors to locate and procure needed pharmaceuticals to assist when you have shortage needs," one reads.

Several distributors who sent hospitals solicitations for scarce drugs didn't return calls from the AP. One representative said he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue.

Another company, Novis Pharmaceuticals, defended the higher prices, saying secondary distributors have to charge far more because they don't get the big rebates manufacturers give primary distributors. They also have high costs to locate and transport batches of scarce drugs, although the company, which mainly distributes blood plasma, would not disclose its profit margin.

It's illegal for companies to collude to create a medicine shortage and raise prices, and there's no evidence of that. There's no federal law against price-gouging on prescription drugs, according to the FDA, but it does urge pharmacists to report cases to its Office of Criminal Investigation. An agency spokeswoman said she could not discuss whether any cases are being investigated.

The top three wholesalers say they try to alleviate problems by working with drug manufacturers, updating hospitals on shortages and rationing scarce supplies by giving their regular hospital customers a portion of their normal order. McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc. say they halt sales to any smaller distributors found to be diverting drugs or otherwise breaking rules. AmerisourceBergen Corp. does background checks on customers.

The hospital association and other groups urge hospitals not to buy from unaccredited vendors, to insist on documentation of the drug's source if they must, and to report price gouging to state authorities. But only three states -- Kentucky, Maine and Texas -- have price-gouging laws that specifically cover medicines.
"Something has to be done here," said pharmacist Michael O'Neal, head of drug procurement for Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, which has had to purchase medicines from secondary suppliers about 70 times over the past two years.
"This is unethical," he said. "We're talking about people's lives."

Summary of state price-gouging laws: http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid14434
Institute for Safe Medication Practices consumer site: http://www.consumermedsafety.org/


Fixing prices, creating shortages

Congressman investigates sellers on drug shortages.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A congressman investigating worsening shortages of hospital drugs is demanding that secondary drug distributors reveal where they're getting scarce, lifesaving medicines -- and explain the huge markups they charge hospitals.
Letters from a House committee cite an Associated Press report that the shortages are responsible for at least 15 patient deaths and that secondary distributors are selling drugs for chemotherapy, anesthesia and infections for hugely inflated prices, in extreme cases up to 80 times the normal price.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has given five distributors -- companies hospitals say have been offering them hard-to-find drugs at dramatic markups -- two weeks to answer his questions. The questions cover where the distributors are buying these drugs, what their profit is and how much their executives are being paid.
"For people to be taking advantage under these circumstances, it ought to be criminal," Cummings told the AP.

Read more
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Congressman-investigates-apf-2594755338.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=

Creating Monopolies by patent laws, licensing to control the price and supplies.

Patents have been criticized in the developing world, as they are thought to reduce access to medicines.^[54] However, under the TRIPS agreement of the World Trade Organization, countries must allow pharmaceutical products to be patented. In 2001, the WTO adopted the Doha Declaration, which indicates that the TRIPS agreement should be read with the goals of public health in mind, and allows some methods for circumventing pharmaceutical monopolies: via compulsory licensing or parallel imports, even before patent expiration.^[55]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_patents


See the predator - Omnicare in action - merger/acquisition.

It tries to exterminate competition. It would own more than 50% of the market share, controlling the prices and supplies. USA, Liberty, stop this predatory merger and the creation of monopoly- market/price control. Monopolies-market/price control are not legal under Sherman Antitrust Act. Crime and corruption in Health Care industry is out of control and most people can not afford to pay for any health care products.

Article

The Obama administration is likely going to block a proposed $716 million offer by geriatric-pharmacy provider Omnicare for PharMerica, a source close to the situation said.
A decision from the Federal Trade Commission on the offer to purchase PharMerica, a Louisville-based provider of pharmacy services in hospitals, is expected by the end of next week, the source said.
“The FTC is not offering Omnicare any remedies,” the source said, so it is not trying to find a way to approve the deal.
Omnicare, based in nearby Covington, Ky., and PharMerica are the country’s two biggest companies that essentially act as pharmacies to patients in nursing homes and assisted-living centers.

Read more:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/won_buy_pharm_KlmVaZzQq60OVlWfnLyg5M?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME

FDA - Food and Drug Administration-Government agency.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), veterinary products, and cosmetics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration_(United_States)


Pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications.^[1] Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to deal in generic and/or brand medications and medical devices. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and ensuring safety and efficacy and marketing of drugs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry


Medicaid - illegal government communist monopoly

Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states.^[1] People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, including low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities. Poverty alone does not necessarily qualify someone for Medicaid. Medicaid is the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with limited income in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid

Medicaid - The fraud by illegals and anchor babies, destroyed most hospitals while poor U.S. taxpayers have no health insurance.

http://diehardanticommie.blogspot.com/2011/06/illegal-immigrants.html


Medicaid - Fraud

In a scandal involving a case to defraud the Medicaid and other healthcare programs such as Medicare, providing health care to senior citizens and elderly,^[3] in the amounts totalling $163 million, more than 50 ethnic Armenians living in the United States were arrested on October 13, 2010.
read more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Medicaid_Fraud

Federal Government to provide $300 Million in Medicaid at taxpayer cost.

(Reuters) - Nearly $300 million in bonus payments have been awarded to 23 states for providing health coverage for children, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Wednesday.
 read more
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/28/us-usa-health-children-idUSTRE7BR15F20111228?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews

Patient Whistleblower Exposes $150 Million Medicaid Fraud

In a real-life David versus Goliath story, a 63-year-old wheelchair-bound Medicaid patient took on the multi-billion-dollar healthcare giant Maxim Healthcare. And he won.
Today the House Oversight Committee heard the saga of how Richard West exposed Maxim’s widespread Medicaid fraud and helped government officials reclaim millions for the cash-strapped program.
“This [fraud] is wholly unacceptable,” said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., “This is why people have lost trust in the insitutions of government and why our fellow citizens have so little trust that we are spending their money as carefully as we would spend our own.”
Richard West is in a wheelchair, uses a ventilator and needs oxygen. He also needs Medicaid so he can stay at home while getting care.
In March of 2003, West started receiving that in-home care but in September of 2004 New Jersey state officials suspended his Medicaid benefits claiming he had exceeded his monthly cap. West knew that was wrong. He keeps good records.
West determined that his healthcare provider, Maxim, had billed Medicaid for 735 hours of nursing care he never got, fraudulent charges that amounted to more than $20,000.
 read more
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/patient-whistleblower-exposes-150-million-medicaid-fraud/

Unfunded Liability for Medicare and Prescription drug

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Data on  July 27/2011

See  at the bottom, the liability for the future obligation : Social Security Liability-15.05T, Prescription Drug 19.91T, Medicare 79.18= Total US Unfunded Liability= 114.15Trillion

Total Prescription Drugs and Medicare = $99.09 Trillion

Data on 12/29/2011 
See at the bottom, the liability for the future obligation : Social Security Liability-15.43T, Prescription Drug  20.42T, Medicare 81.18T = Total US Unfunded Liability= 117.03Trillion

Total Prescription Drugs and Medicare =$101.60Trillion

The Increase in total liability by $2.88Trillion to $117.03T creating the debt and charging taxpayers who can not afford any health insurance..
The increase in  Prescribtion drugs and Medicare = $2.51 Trillion or 2.53%


Deficits, Debts and Unfunded Liabilities: The Consequences of Excessive Government Spending

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln559gjNpW4
 

Destroy -NWO- current communism-dictatorship structure and restore our America to Constitution.

Communists created government monopolies, to loot from us in the name of social justice. These are government-communist type monopolies and redistribution by forced taxation- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, public schools, welfare, parasitic government agencies… bail-outs, subsidies, grants, welfare, global free trade –job offshoring and imports that cause the injuries to the domestic markets and jobs. Crime and corruption against us is everywhere, our debt is out of control and there will not be any money to pay for Social Security, Medicare, Veterans, Military, Defense, poor..

http://diehardanticommie.blogspot.com/2011/06/destroy-nwo-communism-dictatorship.html