I get SOOOO angry and annoyed by the sheer amount of commercials aired on t.v. advertising meds for diabetes that I actually MISS commercials for Viagra and tampons!
I never thought I'd say this!
LizinLowell
(Liz )
#3
Hahaha! Oh dear. 
Yeah my anger at the whole Pharma/diabetes industrial complex is something I did not expect, but it is powerful, real, and sustained.
Darlene_Horsley
(Darlene Horsley)
#4
Agreed! I think anything I see overly advertised by big Pharma on t.v. I had probably better run like hell from and find alternatives. Lol but no joke!
Darlene_Horsley
(Darlene Horsley)
#6
I would love too! However, I haven’t found a treatment program for my remote addicted S O! le Sigh.
Bellyman
(Brian)
#8
Moved to a place a little less than two months ago that currently has no TV service installed. An outside antenna is not a good option here as most tell me we’re too far away to actually get any channels. I refuse to pay for the standard satellite and there is really nothing on free satellite (there is such a thing, legitimately). And the cable that’s available is ridiculously priced. So we have the internet. Since we have Amazon prime, there are a few shows we can watch. We also have access to Netflix if we want to see something there. And we just got an Amazon firestick that I installed Kodi onto. It works, but not as well as I had hoped it might. (Too many “No stream available” messages.)
Anyway, we find that we just don’t watch that much TV anymore. And I’m finding that I don’t miss it nearly as much as I thought I might.
Darlene_Horsley
(Darlene Horsley)
#9
I think that’s pretty awesome. I’m in the mountains and when it rains it’s generally a tv free day because the Direct TV we have goes out. Picture me here constantly doing the rain dance. 
aussiewill
(Will Madams)
#10
The whole concept of advertising medication for us Australians is so odd. It’s just not done here.
Darlene_Horsley
(Darlene Horsley)
#11
And I GET refusing to pay the cable fee too. It’s ridiculous! But alas I married the remote King.
Darlene_Horsley
(Darlene Horsley)
#12
Ohhhh how I wish it wasn’t done here! It wasn’t always this way.
JustPeachy
(Sophie)
#13
We never watch live TV anymore, with the exception of the Nightly Propaganda @ 6pm. We just pre-record everything and skip through all that crap.
Wishbone
#14
I love the USA adverts for drugs. Why? Because they actually list what the crap can do to you. In Socialist countries like the UK, where they have somehow been convinced their medicine is free (Taxpayer funded by working 3 months of the year for naught) they get a Doctor who tells them what they need, writes a prescription, and they take it! I doubt they read the instruction leaflets in the packs, or Google the effects/lawsuits in the USA. Dependence upon government, is the death of mankind. Thinking for yourself, and having critical thinking is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Heck, in some countries having the opinion I just wrote would get branded some horrible name! Its how Socialists shut the opposition up!
240lbfatloss
(Ken)
#15
What’s fascinating is that whenever there is a major ad campaign for a new drug, about three years later the lawyers start running ads for the lawsuits.
barefootbob
#16
No regular TV here, it’s Youtube, Netflix or Amazon. Whenever I have the misfortune to be somewhere with standard television going it still amazes me just how awful it is
Trying to minimize the brainwashing my kids get.
Yep, that’s all it is. Glad to see I’m not alone in my rampant cynicism.
richard
(Richard Morris)
#18
That’s a misrepresentation of socialized medicine (which is a different thing than Socialism).
I’ve lived for an extended time in both Australia and the USA, had a major chronic illness in both and can contrast the two.
First lets compare the view from Pharma
In the USA if a pharma company wants to monetize a drug, they get safety tests into the FDA (Food and Drugs Admin) so they can sell it, and IP protection for as long as they can so they are the ONLY ones selling it and they “educate” doctors at conferences where they pick up the tab. They lobby the insurance companies to pay for them. When their monopoly runs out they advertise to consumers to get them to ASK their doctor for the treatment, and accept no substitutes. Insurance pays a scheduled proportion of most drugs, the patient pays the balance. If either strategy results in over diagnosis that just helps their bottom line so it’s broad net that they cast. The USA is where I was first put on a Statin, and I can make the argument that not only did I not need it (and should not have been caught in their net), but that it PRECIPITATED my diabetes.
The FDA and FTC require them to declare side effects … hence the CYA in the advertising.
In Australia if a pharma company wants to monetize a drug, they get safety tests into the TGA (Australian Therapeutic goods administration) so they can sell it, and IP protection for as long as they can so they are the ONLY ones selling it and they “educate” doctors at conferences where they pick up the tab. They lobby Medicare to pay for them. When their monopoly runs out they compete with generic drugs - often the generic is the pharmacies own brand - and the free market allocates resources efficiently. Medicare pays a scheduled proportion of most drugs, the patient pays the balance.
They can’t advertise on TV because the Australian Advertising standards board would not let them make up Bullshit about their products being better than an identical molecule in a generic drug.
… sooo as you can see the US system is the one with the perverse incentives from Pharma’s point of view. This may be why the USA spends 3x as much as Australia on pharmaceuticals (and Health care in general). And the difference between both nations in both life expectancy and healthy years is significant, and inversely correlated with payment.
An Australian male is likely to live for 80 years, a US male for 76 years.
An Australian female is likely to live for 84 years, a US female for 81 years.
Australia is ranked #1 in both, and the USA ranked #30 and #33 respectively.
From the point of view of the patient, in the USA most drugs are priced to punish the uninsured. Insurance companies lobby for preferential pricing, pricing their competitor (Uninsured people) out of the market. Health Insurance in the USA is a racket where each healthcare dollar travels through 100s of hands, each extracting their “vig”. The end result is that an aspirin in an emergency room costs $150, and don’t ask how much it costs to be resuscitated. In the USA it is more important to have health insurance than pay your taxes. If you don’t pay your taxes the worst that can happen is free room and board at your local penitentiary. If you don’t have insurance, and someone else hits you on the road and you need an ambulance you could be bankrupted … if they pick you up and take you to the ER, if they don’t then worse. Either way they need to find out your insurance status before they do anything.
In Australia with a single payer, the only competitor is foreign tourists which the single payer treats as a slippage (like how a dept store treats shoplifting) - they will try to collect from them if they can. Nothing is free. Australians pay their health insurance when they pay their income taxes - a 2% levy. They can additionally purchase private health insurance which pays for things like optical, dental, private hospital - and if they don’t and are over 30 and earn over a specific amount they get hit with an additional levy up to 0.5% of their income.
If you get hit by a car on the road in Australia, the ambulance takes you to the nearest hospital. They treat you. An aspirin in hospital is paid for by your fellow Australian taxpayers - that is what socialized medicine means.
I know which system I prefer.
Darlene_Horsley
(Darlene Horsley)
#19
Well said!!
And
My Dr. wanted to put me on Statins with my pre-diabetic diagnosis! I refused. They certainly don’t disclose the class action suit against them in their ads!!!
Okay, getting off the soapbox now.