Drug Pricing - Cutting Out the Middleman

[somarco]

I agree that patients and policyholders need to take personal responsibility the truth is, they (we) have very little skin in the game for most claims. Plus it is so much easier to go to the same pharmacy, show them the same drug card you have used for years, and pay the copay.

I spend a lot of time trying to educate clients on ways to save money on Rx. Sometimes I think I am talking to a wall.

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Personally, I think the first thing that needs to be fixed is drug reps. Make it illegal for drug reps to meet with doctors. Spend some tax dollars at the FDA for provider education on drugs.

That's the first thing you would do? Not go after the lobbying from the drug companies, or how they buy-off FDA agency workers with jobs and payments to family members, allowing citizens to buy drugs from qualified overseas vendors, or reforming the corrupt and monopolistic drug patent system?

 

[VolAgent]

Blaming drug reps is the equivalent of blaming Joey the broker in Miami for the subprime mortgage problem. They simply are reacting to the marching orders from above.

Maybe I'm too close to see it as one of my best friends is a drug rep. In all my conversations with him, they just want to get good info to the docs and tell them why their product is better than the previous drug.

 

[goillini52]

Blaming drug reps is the equivalent of blaming Joey the broker in Miami for the subprime mortgage problem. They simply are reacting to the marching orders from above.

Maybe I'm too close to see it as one of my best friends is a drug rep. In all my conversations with him, they just want to get good info to the docs and tell them why their product is better than the previous drug.

In other words they're salesmen, just like us...only selling a different product.

 

[VolAgent]

In other words they're salesmen, just like us...only selling a different product.

Pretty much. Also it looks like a lot of the excess has been curbed in. At one point his expense account was bigger than his salary, and he was expected to spend it all. Now it is much smaller and he is expected to spend it more wisely. Typically lunches for the office to get to talk to the doc and lunches to the offices that are actively writing his meds.

I gather the scoring for performance is very involved and probably hard to game, but he always does well. He's just a people guy and would do well in any sales field. Before he was in drugs he was a beer rep for Bud in the NYC area. This was back before the craft beer boom, and some of these places had some nasty lines for draft beer. He was always trying to get them to understand draft beer was much more profitable to the bar, but they also had to make sure to keep their lines clean.

 

[kgmom219]

That's the first thing you would do? Not go after the lobbying from the drug companies, or how they buy-off FDA agency workers with jobs and payments to family members, allowing citizens to buy drugs from qualified overseas vendors, or reforming the corrupt and monopolistic drug patent system?

You can't single out 1 industry for lobbying.

Bribes and buying off FDA officials is already illegal.

I believe in a free market economy, so I have no problem with US citizens buying from other countries. Perhaps if more people did it, prices in the US would fall?

The patent system is a disaster. But no, that's not first. They spent the money on the R&D. They should be able to recoup it.

Drug Reps are #1.

Vol...I get it. I do. But his direction comes from the info that the PBM's produce and sell to drug manufacturers. There is NO other way that providers are able to receive information on new drugs (or machines) than from the manufacturers. Docs get 1 3 hour class in med school on drugs. That's it. Anything new that comes out is presented to them via a drug rep. And BTW, if you write 10,000 scripts, there's a "conference" in the Bahamas where you can learn more information. And of course its free, because its educational and has NOTHING to do with the number of scripts your wrote. And Mr. Drug Rep man, why hasn't Dr Smith written enough scripts? Get your butt in her office and find out why. Give her lots of samples, so the patients realize its WAY better than those generic options of old drugs, so they want it when they run out of samples. And you better be in there more than the Lilly rep with a similar drug. Remind them that Lilly only does US trips and we offer trips overseas. So our drug must be better. And we pay more than Lilly does to the PBM's for the information, so OUR drugs are listed as preferred on more formularies than their version.

WHY do you think the drug manufacturers hire long legged blondes and smoking hot brunettes with a science degree? I promise, its not for the degree.

 

[goillini52]

WHY do you think the drug manufacturers hire long legged blondes and smoking hot brunettes with a science degree? I promise, its not for the degree.

So that's why they didn't hire me.

 

[LostDollar]

Blaming drug reps is the equivalent of blaming Joey the broker in Miami for the subprime mortgage problem. They simply are reacting to the marching orders from above.

Maybe I'm too close to see it as one of my best friends is a drug rep. In all my conversations with him, they just want to get good info to the docs and tell them why their product is better than the previous drug.

Make a distinction between blaming drug reps and blaming the marketing system that allows drug companies to attempt to reach consumers through a conduit of drug reps and medical professionals. I don't think kgmom is necessarily blaming drug reps, I think she is saying to use legislation to modify the marketing system.

 

[goillini52]

https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-10435.pdf

 

[somarco]

So that's why they didn't hire me.

Your legs are too short?