Paying for meds you don’t need? Find out if your doctor is on the payroll of Big Pharma

Want to know if you really needed that brand name drug, or if the cheaper generic drugs were just as good? It’s easy as a Google search to find out if your doctor’s really concerned about that headache or has been prescribing unnecessary, even detrimental meds to you simply because he gets paid to do so. Open Payments Data is a website created by the government, as required by the “Sunshine Act”, that reveals to you the extent to which your personal care provider could be controlled by Big Pharma. From physicians to teaching hospitals, you can even identify which exact company is making payments to whom.

Something that actually benefits the little guy, this website is a major blow to corrupt doctors and forces them to avoid corporate sponsors where it is unnecessary. Doctors who work with pharmaceutical companies for legitimate reasons would face greater scrutiny as well, but it is likely that the database would provide sufficient information to clarify his/her relationship. Without anyone to push meds for them, and considering the savings they would make from not bribing doctors, big pharma will hopefully focus their profits on saving lives.

Of course, this piece of good news does not mean that we should lose sight of the Trans Pacific Partnership; That agreement alone would crush out generics and make doctor bribery pointless, seeing as few cheaper alternatives would be available in the first place (that’s only from what little information that has been leaked, who knows what other powers could be handed over to big pharma in this agreement that is secret to only the average person). Winning a battle is meaningless if one loses the war.

openpaymentsdata.cms.gov...

naturalsociety.com...

www.japantimes.co.jp...

a reply to: lucifuge

I'm so glad we don't have your type of medical treatment in the UK.
I saw some of your adverts for drugs...wow.
Long live the NHS and long live the people who fight for her!!.

a reply to: boymonkey74

I agree, but there are extremes in either scenario. The doctor I see here outright refuses most forms of treatment. He's infamous for one case where a guy went into see him with chest pain and a history of blood clots, he told the guy 'walk it off it's muscle tension' and of course the guy ends up traveling to the ER and being diagnosed with a blood clot IN his heart, he would've been dead in a matter of hours if he took docs advice. When I was diagnosed with diabetes and asked for a referral to a nutrition specialist, he told me to google a diabetic diet and said he would not refer me.
I would rather be stuck with a big-pharma shill doctor, than one guilty of incredible medical negligence, especially in this system where you're assigned a family doc and it's nearly impossible to find a new one.

a reply to: lucifuge

Dr's have been prescribing $20B/year in statins for the last 10+ years.

Government recommendations on dietary fat and choleserol are baseless and should never have been published.

So do we even get an apology? I'm glad I rejected that Dr's advice.

a reply to: lucifuge

That is a step in the right direction for sure.

It has been a dirty old business to date. Historically, if one looks back at an example like Thalidomide it horrifies just how powerful the company were and how they were even able to manipulate evidence against them with counter research. Before I looked into that I had been under the illusion that it was a rap and the guilty had been punished. Far from it!

It is a dark old practice to sabotage health in this way. I hope in the future, with resources like this popping up, people get a better deal from the health professionals.

Sometimes there are major differences between name brand ans generic. My child ended up in the ER due to switching from generic pill onto liquid name brand of Tegretal. Its a known issue. Pharmacists just believe generic is always the same.

Its not.

I tried statins at 24yrs old because my doc thought my cholesterol was too high I took em for a month I never felt worse than when I was on prevastatin I stopped an told the doc I'd rather eat grease and die from a heart attack than ever feel like the way I did... reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Inert ingredients change and thats what the difference is...a reply to: Iamthatbish

a reply to: ATF1886

A doc gave you those at that age? Wow did he /she advise about diet at all or just put you on those straight away? .

Interesting website. I knew I liked my doctor. He has $152 in general payments, all showing food and beverage...and then zero's across the board elsewhere.

Straight away im type 1 diabetic and stated that he needed to be agressive with my treatment and that if i dont follow it i would die of a heart attack. .. reply to: boymonkey74

originally posted by: ATF1886
Inert ingredients change and thats what the difference is...a reply to: Iamthatbish

My understanding from the drs was the name brand of this medication is simply stronger. As I said this specific switch isn't every situation.

How many times have generics been proven to not even have the active ingredient in them. That being said, I don't see an issue with generics when they are safe. I simply wanted to bring to light that switching back and forth between name brand and generic isn't always safe.

To tell you the truth alot of it is not safe.. ive given my kids meds prescribed by docs and it makes em worse as well as i.. i took some benzonate for a cough it was horrible the feeling couldnt pass fast enough and i still coughed l.

Your right there is a big difference between generic and non generic and if your pharmacist didn't know to tell you possible reactions they're not too bright... reply to: Iamthatbish

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

My DH had somewhat high cholesterol and the DR. wanted to put him on stains. He said he would rather try diet. So 2 1/2 months into our diet the news headlined food cholesterol does not affect blood cholesterol. Of course. Anyways, we stay on the diet and he gets blood test and his cholesterol WAS lower. The sad part was the DR then put his numbers in the Framingham risk score and said his risk was 20% of having heart event. Wants to put him statins.

I gather its not about ldl lowering now so much as its anti inflammatory properties.

FraminghamRiskScore

Even when I manipulate the numbers to be stellar(for our age) it still advocates statins. I find that suspicious. They lowered the numbers in 2012 to include many millions more people.

He declined on the prescription, again ,but one does feel pressured.

The Pharma companies would give free trips all over the place to people who pushed their drugs before. They were perks and the doctors did not have to claim these "training seminars" as income. I am sure that this is still happening but not as bad as it was in the early 2000s. The government has tightened this up since then and did a big investigation. I knew one doctor who was overly worried about that investigation. She was a pill pusher.

I have had reactions from different cholesterol meds and just can't take them. My Doctor understands and tells me to take fish oil pills. All my meds are generic except for one which doesn't come as a generic. My Doctor always tells me if there is a med I feel is too high priced to let her know. She got me a damn good price for one of my meds. I can't complain.

a reply to: Iamthatbish

Is call in the medical community as the 3% of the population that either can not take medications because the side effects and when it comes to generics the additives can be deadly.

See when it comes to big pharma their rule is that one size fit all, but for those that can die because of side effects, they are just a necessary evil for the good of rest that can be milked away for maximum profits.

I am one of those, been in the emergency room too many times due to sulfa related reactions that is a common additive in many medications.

a reply to: Night Star

I got excellent results on my cholesterol numbers with krill oil and CQ10, as long as you good cholesterol a 100 or more and triglycerides are low it compensates for the bad cholesterol.

I can not take any statins at all, now they are causing diabetes in women.

originally posted by: boymonkey74
a reply to: lucifuge

I'm so glad we don't have your type of medical treatment in the UK.
.

Well yes and No. My father who had MDS then AML was treated with Vidaza for over 5 years. He eventually converted after 5 really good years and passed away not long after. In most European health care systems (I realize there are differences between them) for many years it was not because of the cost. So as with every system there are pros and cons.

Back on topic:

Some major university medical centers have started to combat this. AT Stanford and John Hopkins (I believe) pharma reps are not allowed to be on campus unless escorted. Drug presentations go to a committee NOT individual MD's and have to be approved by said committee. Trips / freebies are not allowed. Promotional materials are NOT allowed. Next time you are in a hospital see if the stethoscopes have a drug name on them or mugs at the nurses station. Those are dead giveaways

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: Night Star

I got excellent results on my cholesterol numbers with krill oil and CQ10, as long as you good cholesterol a 100 or more and triglycerides are low it compensates for the bad cholesterol

Marg!!! Its like the old days. The Krill oil etc do work but if your numbers are what you indicated above you don't have much of an issue. Genetics are the tough one that's impossible to beat with present technology. For many diet and exercise and supplements are not going to help a huge amount and drugs may be the only choice.....