When will Congress get off their asses and regulate something Americans really care about except Hillary’s cell phone? The massive prescription drug corporations driven by nothing other than greed are making huge profits on raising the prices on generic drugs while Americans are forced to suffer financially. Many of us need these medicines to survive and the prices have suddenly skyrocketed for no particular reason. Why is   the prescription drug industry not regulated anyway? Prices for certain drugs have suddenly gone up by 3,000% per cent! Even 6,000% per cent. Do they lobby politicians so much that our elected people are

turning their back and having a deaf ear to this subject?

Many people are being forced to do a price check before their next refill of their prescription drugs because they are changing the prices so often. Why are we all victims of a drug pricing surge? For example a pain killer Pentanyl Citrate which is a generic equivalent of Actiq that is a powerful drug used for pain. In 2010 it cost 50 cents a dose. Many people should take 3 doses per day. Today it is more than $30 dollars per dose.  That is almost an increase of 6,000% per cent meanwhile nothing has changed in the formula or the manufacturing process. We need Congress to ask what justifies such a surge in   cost to the consumer?   Patients and pharmacists   are reporting alarming increases in the prices of generic drugs. You usually go generic because the introduced drug is already too expensive.  Generic drugs are supposed to be low cost copies of the more expensive branded products. As it is the branded product spends too much money on advertising and promotion.  Just get us well already! Now what?

Pharmacist’s themselves will tell you that they have never seen such a price increase in the last 15 years. In the span of one year, blood pressure medication, Captopril jumped more than 2,700% per cent in price. The drug Albiterol Sulfate used to treat Asthma jumped more than 3,400%. The Antibiotic Doxcycline jumped a whopping 6,300% per cent. The companies  excuses are manufacturing disruptions, raw material shortages due to factory closings or violations. Other reasons are from companies that leave or merge in the market. Now people are seeking the products in other countries where the prices have not gone up.

Overseas something can cost $100 for a three month supply that here now costs $15,000 dollars for that same three month supply. After 3 years of this abuse you can be out $80,000 dollars. That can take a toll on marriages. The drug companies say” this company does not comment specifically on pricing   matters.” Dr. Joathan Alpern, the Chief Resident at Regions Hospital a co-author on the subject in the New England Journal of Medicine wrote of this problem and agrees that this shouldn’t be happening and that systems should be in place to prevent this from happening.

The only politician that is addressing this problem is Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders a Democrat from Vermont who I endorse. He last week introduced a new bill designed to curb generic drug prices. Let’s see if he can go anywhere with that being surrounded by a Republican majority of people that accepted large campaign contributions from drug companies. They also voted that Congress gets all their drugs paid in full by the taxpayers.