Obamacare: Big $ for a "Big Pharma" Monopoly?

    Our new healthcare law is looking like a trainwreck in slow motion, but do we all see how sinister it really is?  I doubt it.  I wonder how many layers there are to this eye-burning “onion”.  Yet, there is one aspect many may not realize: the big money it could pump into the pockets of those with investments in large pharmaceutical companies.  Why?

    Simple.  With an upsurge in public interest in alternative health, “big pharma” stands to lose out a bit, otherwise.  Many are realizing the dangers of medical mistakes, the numbers harmed or dying unecessarily during hospital stays, and the adverse side effects of numerous drugs and medications.  People like the idea of safer healthcare that actually treats the causes rather than the symptoms, too, and modern science is beginning to prove the efficacy of a large number of herbs and food extracts in treating a number of complaints, from diabetes to cancer and beyond — not to mention the use of nutritional items like vitamins, minerals, CoQ10, etc.

     There are many wonderful medical breakthroughs in the modern era, so pharmaceuticals are important, of course.  However, people are becoming increasingly educated and self-educated in alternatives, too.  I have read of one women who actually became nearly blind and through the counsel of a nutritional doctor — her medical doctor had nothing to offer her — she regained most of her sight within a few years!  Sure, it involved a strict diet, but I think she figured it was worth it, lol.  In another case, someone concocted products that seem to have gotten rid of multiple skin tumors!  There are probably many other instances with similarly amazing results.  (The story of ESSIAC tea is a common one.)  

     The “problem” with totally natural herbs, foods, vitamins, etc. is that they are often things for which people cannot get a patent, thus making it rather open to all comers as per the potential profits.  Drug companies don’t like that, as it prevents them from making money if they spend loads on research and development only to see the resulting profit-potential “stolen” by others.  One-owner drugs that can be patented is where they make their time, efforts and money pay off. 

     Well, the overall cost of getting a single drug approved by the FDA appears to be in the range of $300 million to $400 million!  There is not enough financial pay-back in most natural health items to make that feasible, so therefore many natural remedies do not have FDA approval for use as medicines.  That matters?  Yes, and here’s why.  If a remedy is not approved for medical use, what chance does it have in being used on a large scale in hospitals, clinics and by the medical profession.  A certain burn center turned down an offer of a very healing natural product and could not use it due to it not having official FDA approval for medical use on burns.  It could have helped the children with severe burns there.  Sure, I understand they probably have liability and safety issues to worry about; however, I understand it was produced using food and pharmaceutical quality ingredients considered safe.  The small manufacturer simply could not afford the many $millions needed for getting FDA approval as a pharmaceutical product with medicinal claims and official safety clearance.

     Consider, then, what may well happen during Obamacare, with mandated insurance, using specified doctors, hospitals, etc. with all required to hold to the use of FDA-approved drugs and medicines.  They will have a monopoly for Big Pharma!   Inexpensive, natural remedies officially tossed out the window, all persons will become forced participants in the new system and pay for drug-company-backed healthcare which will line the pockets of the pharmaceutical giants (at the expense of the health, wellbeing and choice of most Americans).  Hmm, I wonder if and how many U.S. Law-makers were holding stock in such companies as they crafted Obamacare or whether they gained any “incentives” from Big Pharma along the way (for their efforts).   You may think I’m kidding, but I have already seen this type of monopoly in action.  I know of someone who while hospitalized could have recovered much more quickly through certain natural health products.  Instead, and limited mostly to low-grade nutrition products and drugs made by those able to pass through all the FDA red tape and expense, the health danger and recuperative time lingered far longer.  Of course, I doubt the hospital was complaining, since his insurance was paying for it.