The War on Pharmaceutical Companies

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In America, it has become a battle to earn a high paying job to cope with the expenses of a typical American. It has become even more of a battle for some people to afford medical prescriptions to keep healthy. Health becomes a crucial issue when discussed among people. No matter what, at one point or another, everyone is going to stand as a victim of the pharmaceutical industry. The bottom line is Americans are paying excessive amounts of money for medical prescriptions. Health-Care spending in the U.S. rose a stunning 9.3% in 2002, which is the greatest increase for the past eleven years. (Steele 46) Many pharmaceutical companies are robbing their clients by charging extreme rates for their products. It is said that name-brand prescription drugs in Canada cost approximately 40% less than they do in America. But it is illegal for the transport of drugs from Canada to America. Why? It is because Pharmaceuticals are simply greedy and prey on victims that are in need of their products to survive. It makes it hard for large households on a budget to purchase drugs to keep healthy. The way pharmaceutical companies look at their clients is like this: It is a life or death situation for them so the customers have to buy it in order to survive. According to the annual Fortune 500 survey, the pharmaceutical industry, expectedly, made it at the top of the list of the most profitable. The top seven pharmaceutical companies took in more profit-money than the top seven media companies, the top seven airline companies, the top seven oil companies, and the top seven car manufacture companies. (…cost so much, CNN) The profits of pharmaceutical companies are outrageous and extreme. There are many reasons to why these companies are greedily taking advantage of customers. The number one reason is because people who are need of these prescriptions have no other choice but to purchase them. Why does not America do something about these rip-off companies? In 2001 George Bush promised to lower the amount spent on prescriptions for the citizens, but in 2002, Americans spent $162.4 billion on prescribed drugs. (Steele 47) Drugs prices are not likely to fall back down to what they were years ago. They fall into the same category as fuel prices for automobiles; they always increase. There are more pharmaceutical companies present in the U.S. than any other country in the world. Th... ... middle of paper ... ...one since the U.S. Government supports this delirious act of ripping off senior citizens. In conclusion, pharmaceutical companies are extremely edacious and cold-blooded. Their profits numbers in the billion’s range while seniors are struggling to afford their prescribed drugs to survive. The pharmaceutical industry is strongly against Americans getting their prescriptions from Canada. Yet these people cannot help it; they are not financially secure to afford the drugs sold in America. The U.S. Government tries to isolate itself from the problem in order to make money from the taxes of prescriptions. However, almost every other country has some type of control over their pharmaceutical companies’ prices. In the future, with more and more drugs developed, only more and more money is going to be in need by the pharmaceutical industry. So unless something can be done soon, this war on drugs is only going to climb uphill. Yet how could these top-paid personnel understand what it feels like to be unable to afford prescription drugs in order to maintain a healthy body or even to stay alive? If there was an answer to that question, the dilemma of overpriced drugs might have a solution.

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