Responsible Medication Availability
While we applaud the efforts to stop abuse of pharmaceutical and street drugs, we are disturbed by accounts of Americans (including veterans, elderly, children, even cancer patients) being denied meds their Dr. had prescribed. Cuts, shortages, and inflated prices overnight for no good reason. It seems insurance companies main job is to say no. We pay them to hire lots of people who find lots of reasons to say no. They are a business, after all. A for profit business. That’s the way it is. But they’ve gotten greedy. People are suffering. This is unacceptable. The insurance companies pay a lot of lobbyists in DC. You might say they seem to align. The CDC making rules about what doctors can prescribe to whom, as long as they are insured. They call them guidelines, and lawyers insist that they are just that. Except Dr’s are losing their licenses or just retiring. Young ones toe the line when forced to appear in front of the state’s kangaroo court. They say,”we want to keep you working” so you can serve your “good patients”. Diabetics and heart patients. Keep them taking their ever increasingly high meds. For pain patients, (with the only exception being cancer) it’s been a full on assault. “Blame the patients” the head ceo of SUBSYS, the makers of the most expensive and dangerous instant release fentanyl. Up to $32,000 for a 30 day supply. Pure greed and contempt. Patients were told they will take this new med...or nothing. Dr’s were paid big bucks in rewards for prescriptions. This in itself isn’t problem. It’s the sheer greed. They got their way. Patients were screened for addiction. Drug testing regularly. All were reduced, then reduced even more. It continues. Overdoses continue to rise. It’s clear that patients who’ve proven not to abuse their medication for 10 years are NOT at risk of addiction. Sadly some are no longer able to care for themselves and if they hadn’t resources they became nursing home residents. Severe arthritis patients couldn’t move their stiff limbs quickly enough to make it to the toilet. Incontinance is the number one reason for nursing home admission. There aren’t enough in home caregivers to go around. It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse, and will continue. Millions of people in severe pain are being exploited so politicians can pretend they solved the problem. It’s not solved. The black market is as strong as ever. We must demand better treatment of the suffering, no matter the reason. Pain medicine has had a place in the doctors black bag for a long time. Limiting their use after nothing else worked isn’t even humane. People, the most sick and vulnerable, suffer. The insurance won’t cover $5,000 stem cell therapy (taken from the patients own fat cells and grown in a lab, then injected back into the donor) but will pay over $100,000 hip replacement surgery. This makes no sense. There is so much waste and pure greed...we must demand better! Without paying a penny in taxes or more insurance we must demand intelligent health care. For all Americans. Patients have a right to quality care at a fair price. Instead of the government telling doctors what they can prescribe, it should get right to the problem. An overgrown and overfunded insurance industry. If the government is to be smaller, start here. Why pay the CDC all this money and allow them to practice medicine? They aren’t even doctors! Peoples lives depend on it. These same people could volunteer and be productive citizens. That’s what we want. Making patients bedridden shut ins isn’t an intelligent use of resources.
Please sign and share this petition.
Thank you,
We the people
Please sign and share this petition.
Thank you,
We the people
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