Poor Ron Pollack and FUSA.
First they put out a bunch of reports claiming that if we shove seniors into the VA system Medicare would save tons of money.
Soros funded Families USA Godfather Ron Pollack never told his Democrat supporters or the media that the VA used price controls, restrictive formularies and rationing of new medicines.
(We did and have for months if not years, going back to my time at the Manhattan Institute.)
Either they knew and were politically venal or just stupid. Either way, Democrats and Republicans are now stuck trying to prove that you drive down prices without restricting choice.
Now FUSA has come out with yet another report claiming that VA prices are lower than Medicare prices. Tell us something we don't know.
Except now Ron thinks he has outsmarted those who opposed price controls.
To wit (or to witless in this case) :
“Opponents of Medicare bargaining make two contradictory claims. First, they claim that private market competition under Part D is more effective in reducing prices than Medicare bargaining; and second, they claim that Medicare bargaining would reduce prices so significantly it would harm research and development,†said Pollack. “These arguments cannot both be true—and, indeed, neither is true.â€
Here's some math even Ron can understand. Big difference between price X and price X less 50 percent minus 3 years sales (due to limited access to the market) or price X minus no sales at all because of a restrictive formula. If Ron or anyone else wants to see my computations on this they can email directly at bobgoldberg@yahoo.com
Then Ron claims that all drug companies spend more on sales, marketing and administration than on R&D.
That's true. But misleading. And dishonest
Ron takes all the sale's, marketing, AND administrative expensives of a corporation worldwide (and administration includes the toner for the copier as well as the toilet paper for the men's room) and uses that as the denominator for R&D for the pharmaceutical firm alone. If FUSA and Ron were honest he would
1. Use the GAO numbers that show companies spend about $11 billion on marketing to consumers and docs compared to $31 billion on R&D. Companies might be able to spend less, but some education and advertising in needed. In any event, to zero it out would not lower drug prices low enough to "fill the doughnut hole." Once again Ron is hoping anger over drug prices will cause people to glide past his deception.
2. Add in biotech. That's another $20 billion in R&D will less spent on marketing. And most of these companies lose money and depend in drug companies for funding. They would be hurt twice by FUSA's proposal. They would lose pharma funding and then find their products barred from government formularies.
FUSA is a desperate organization seeking to restore badly damaged credibility created by their own lies and distortions.
They tried to scare seniors away from Medicare Part D and failed. They claimed it would be a failure. They were wrong. They claim it's still a failure. No one takes them seriously. They mislead the public on price controls and its impact on the lives of seniors. And now they are trying to mislead again on the impact they would have on medical progress.
At least Ron and FUSA are consistent.
First they put out a bunch of reports claiming that if we shove seniors into the VA system Medicare would save tons of money.
Soros funded Families USA Godfather Ron Pollack never told his Democrat supporters or the media that the VA used price controls, restrictive formularies and rationing of new medicines.
(We did and have for months if not years, going back to my time at the Manhattan Institute.)
Either they knew and were politically venal or just stupid. Either way, Democrats and Republicans are now stuck trying to prove that you drive down prices without restricting choice.
Now FUSA has come out with yet another report claiming that VA prices are lower than Medicare prices. Tell us something we don't know.
Except now Ron thinks he has outsmarted those who opposed price controls.
To wit (or to witless in this case) :
“Opponents of Medicare bargaining make two contradictory claims. First, they claim that private market competition under Part D is more effective in reducing prices than Medicare bargaining; and second, they claim that Medicare bargaining would reduce prices so significantly it would harm research and development,†said Pollack. “These arguments cannot both be true—and, indeed, neither is true.â€
Here's some math even Ron can understand. Big difference between price X and price X less 50 percent minus 3 years sales (due to limited access to the market) or price X minus no sales at all because of a restrictive formula. If Ron or anyone else wants to see my computations on this they can email directly at bobgoldberg@yahoo.com
Then Ron claims that all drug companies spend more on sales, marketing and administration than on R&D.
That's true. But misleading. And dishonest
Ron takes all the sale's, marketing, AND administrative expensives of a corporation worldwide (and administration includes the toner for the copier as well as the toilet paper for the men's room) and uses that as the denominator for R&D for the pharmaceutical firm alone. If FUSA and Ron were honest he would
1. Use the GAO numbers that show companies spend about $11 billion on marketing to consumers and docs compared to $31 billion on R&D. Companies might be able to spend less, but some education and advertising in needed. In any event, to zero it out would not lower drug prices low enough to "fill the doughnut hole." Once again Ron is hoping anger over drug prices will cause people to glide past his deception.
2. Add in biotech. That's another $20 billion in R&D will less spent on marketing. And most of these companies lose money and depend in drug companies for funding. They would be hurt twice by FUSA's proposal. They would lose pharma funding and then find their products barred from government formularies.
FUSA is a desperate organization seeking to restore badly damaged credibility created by their own lies and distortions.
They tried to scare seniors away from Medicare Part D and failed. They claimed it would be a failure. They were wrong. They claim it's still a failure. No one takes them seriously. They mislead the public on price controls and its impact on the lives of seniors. And now they are trying to mislead again on the impact they would have on medical progress.
At least Ron and FUSA are consistent.
