Whether you watch 24 Hour News Networks or not, it is tough to find good journalism on TV. Bill Moyers stands out unlike any other. He talks about the real issues that need talking about, which 24 Hour News Networks will ignore. 24 Hour News Networks like Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC would be stupid to attack and expose one of their biggest advertisers, the pharmaceutical industry.
The previous two articles written on this site, Pharmaceutical Drug Companies Killing Middle America Legally while Robbing You Blind and Pharmaceutical Drug Companies Marketing and Policy Making, were written without prior knowledge of this interview or book. But it just goes to show that our health as a population is at stake and there is a real problem going on.
In this interview with Melody Peterson, we get the low down on an industry that has put profits before our health. She is the author of Our Daily Meds, which is the culmination of four years of work as a New York Times journalist researching the pharmaceutical industry.
(Disclosure: I have not read this book yet. I only just found out about it today, but the interview is well worth watching.)
May 18th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Great reading. I’m a shop girl and writer/editor/proofreader for a mom and pop natural health business in Florida, and I’m still pretty much a neophyte when it comes to the politics of health care…
I’ve added your website to my blog roll. Keep up the great work!
May 20th, 2008 at 7:28 am
Kudos to Ms. Peterson! I’ve writhed for a few years seeing those RX commercials with all the frighteneing side effects spelled out,fortunately by law. Yet, it’s not appetizing to hear while having dinner and watching TV at the same time.
Yes,the public is being ripped off. Figure the co-pay at the VA comes to as littkle as 5% of retail! Is this because of bulk purchasing? If it can be acquired here,why not allow non-Veterans to buy their drugs in Canada? Best way is to go through the Internet for 20–40% discounts.
As Ms. Peterson reports,the bulk of the Pharmaceutical companies profits go into Marketing over research.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Moyers does speak very sincerely. You can see it in the eyes. Her’s too. And it is astonishing. Especially the part about Disney cartoons being used in pharma ads. I know a friend in NC who needs a heart bypass which would cost $45k, but her health plan doesn’t cover all of it and she’s been postponing it for over 6 months now. But are the drug companies to blame or the health care providers? Who knows?
May 28th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
I am familiar with the journalistic stylings of Bill Moyers- I think he does try to go against the grain by getting at issues which often do not get much air time on the larger news outfits, as discussed above.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Great interview!
thanks for posting it
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Why blame it all on the Pharmaceutical companies? I often find it very sad, that the doctors just push Pharmaceuticals. They say take this and you’ll feel better. They treat the sympton, without trying to find the cause. For instance numerous studies prove that psycho analysis works better for a lot of depressed people than the drugs do … But, two things … The doctors push the drugs and our insurance wont cover the pyscho ananlysis …
June 20th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
and following what Cindy says, we – the consumers or patients – follow our doctors orders blindly.
There is a real serious disconnect here – not seeing how our actions (or inactions) contribute to ill health, prevention not being a part of the health care system, lack of creativity and curiosity in doctors, and apathy and denial…in well all of us.
Things are changing …slowly. I have seen my doctors be more receptive to concepts. But i have to ask. They never just tell you- you have to prod.
I love Bill Moyers – go Bill go.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Bill Moyers is great and he usually does like indulging in contraversity issues/problems. And this is a big one. It is all about money plain and simple. The drug companies don’t care about what kind of meds you are taking. It is all about making a buck.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Great interview, interesting points, thanks
September 18th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
The modern obsession with a thin body is another problem that women face now a days. Women try everything in order to get this extra pounds off, things like pills, patches, diet, hunger, exercises and all kind of weight loss products. Some of them work, but others – not.
Weight loss industry is focusing on the way people should feel while doing it, in order to achieve better results and stay healthy all the time. Being healthy and thin is not a dream, it should be something, that is a reasonable and easy to be done.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
He kinda reminds me of michael moore, only completely different in the fact that this guy actually makes sense and is likeable. good stuff.
-Jack
September 20th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I agree with what Cindy says, Pharmaceutical companies are businesses but doctors need to take the time to figure out what is REALLY wrong before prescribing a “magic pill” to fix it and moving on to another patient after 2 minutes of analysis.
Very good post, thank you for posting it.
September 20th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
And the debate goes on. I like Bill Moyers and I am glad someone is willing to after these giant Pharmaceutical Drug Companies. We have been lead around by these people and the doctors who peddle their crap.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Whatever the media feeds us is bunch of bs, universal healthcare is good
September 21st, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I was at my doctor’s office one day, and he was in the next room with a patient. I heard my doctor tell the patient to have a good day and the patient left. Then someone entered the room. It was a drug rep. I heard the whole conversation between my doctor and drug rep. The rep told my doctor the number of prescriptions he wrote for an anti inflammatory drug were up and that my doctor qualified for an all expense paid conference in Hawaii. I could not believe it. But later in life my wife worked for a doctor. The drug reps would come in with coffee cups, pens, pencils, and shirts for the employees. Drug reps know that even the recptionist can block them from seeing the doctor. Drug reps also brought in catered lunches for the entire staff.
The next time you pay for a prescription, remember that you are also paying for all the gifts given to the doctors and their employees. And to think that our government has done nothing about this is unbelieveable. Prescription drug costs could be immediately lowered if these gifts and kickbacks were against the law.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I just recently saw a TV report on how pharma reps make regular visits so often to some doctors that when it’s lunch time, they just call the pharma rep and he delivers whatever they want. It’s become an expected freebie. There was a big scandal in the 80’s over doctors getting free trips at the pharma company’s expense and laws were passed to prevent it. It seems they’ve found a way around those laws.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
these reps do make apprearences like such. there are scandals all over the US, patients are being taken advantage of everywhere too without knowing about it. They will continue to pay without the know abouts of what theyre paying for or why. These pharmacies are getting lots of money for reasons im unsure of.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Yes Bill Moyer is our hero, he expresses his views and doesn’t “go with the flow” thats why he is who he is. Great stuff thanks!
October 24th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
We spend 16% of our GDP on health care and still can’t get it right.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:35 am
I read the post by Bill about the drug representatives giving the doctors gifts, and it kind of hit me that this world revolves around money. I think it’s utter stupidity and greed, but if the pills really are worth the price you pay for them, then it may be acceptable. I would say that the price of them would be determined by how well they work, the production cost, and the length of the term in which you would end up taking the pills.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I hope that under the presidence of Mr. Obama, USA will wake up and understand (but also take action) that a good security social network for everybody is a real must. I live in Belgium and yes, ok, I’m pretty upset when I see that more than 40% of my salary is automatically given at the Belgian social security. But the day I’ll need 50,000 EUR cardiac surgery, social security will help me automatically and I’ll have NOTHING to pay.
December 21st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Population Control… do a research on that… there are groups of powerfull people in this world who believe that most of us should die… Why ? because if we live and we have kids, then our kids will have kids and before you know it, there will be no more suitable place on earth for all of us to live. The population of the earth grows at an exponantial rate, which means that most of us dont see it coming, but from a mathematical point of view, the people who manage populations are well aware of it, and it needs to be managed somehow to prevent this exponential growth…
This is one of the reasons war exists, bad health care, virus etc… the more technology advance the harder it gets to control population, they need methods of mass control, for example fluor in the water we all drink is NOT necessary, chemicals in foods we eat, nutriments are being removed from ogm foods, you wont find any “rich” powerfull person eating these mass produced foods because they are the cause of many illness that occurs to us 10 to 30 years later in our lives, sure go ahead say that im a crazy conspirationist, i know its true, ive watched countless documentaries, ive read so many thing, at the very least id say its exagerated, but the truth reman, they are controling the population with death.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Unfortunately the media most of the time are out there to sell products and images to us. At the same time that the pharmaceutical companies have become very political and capitalist. People go crazy after the “perfect body” and are not told what the real consequences are when they opt for fast and promessing diets. It is sad to see that a lot people start crazy diets and demage their health after the dream of a body that is considered perfect by images shown in the media.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I believe there is good in bad with it all. Sometimes doctors are over booked and then under booked. When their over booked they just don’t want to take the time to really explore whats wrong with the person and are ready to push a script on them as fast as they came in the door. My doctor i will say she takes the time to listen and see how your feeling you are treated like a person just not a dollar sign. I think it is a shame when doctors just start seeing people as dollar signs. I mean its basically all the world is coming down to anymore money and more money. Hope in 2009 theres such big changes that all gets back on track again.
January 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
In response to cindy- It is true doctors can push pharmaceuticals a bit much but like cookie said patients follow doctors blindly as they find they should be able to trust them and yes generally they can but i think a better thing to do than attack doctors is to promote awareness.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:55 pm
It really is sick how much these diet pill companies just care about profits and are willing to lie and use deceitful marketing practices just to make sales.
February 19th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
We’re a step closer to universal health care now, but there is still a long ways to go. Canada is doing it right, why havent we?