Congressman Jerry Nadler from the 8th District of New York is introducing a revolutionary concept: Make the greedy Big Phrama around the world pay for their own advertising. Cialis, Lavetra, Viagra…..all get sizable tax write-offs for advertising on television. Jerry Nadler is supporting the Obama Administration effort to control the cost of Health care – through some sort of Reform: http://www.house.gov/nadler/
The endless list of Big Phrama television advertising supports the following: Television Stations, Big Phrama tax write offs, Pay offs to Politicians, Pay for Lobbyists Groups, Pays offs to Doctors enrolling in their broad based product programs and mutual encouragement to assist in production of various manufacturers of Generic derivatives! In the words of Sonny Corleone: “There’s a lotta money in that white powder Pop!”.
The reality is those advertising programs costs the consumers because those costs both get written off and are added to the costs of the various products. It’s a giant two-fer! Logic might dictate the following products join Prescriptions Drugs…..as taxable and not write offs: Liquor, Beer and any other products that are ingested which can debiliate the the senses. “Hey, what about those Budweiser Horses?” – you say. What about snack foods? Could Tostitos be harmful to our health? We should point out at this juncture that we have never met anyone who overdosed on Tostitos. But there is little doubt that somewhere, somehow – it has probably happened a few times. The over use of coffee, toothpaste, hair care or other chemically produced products – might be targeted……but then stupid is always a major concern of television advertising.
The truth is: If we truly intend to hold down or reduce the cost of healthcare in this country……we need to ban both Prescription Drugs and Hard Liquor Advertising…….as far as a tax write off. Beer? That one we might consider grandfathering in…..for the time being. We fully support Congressman Nadler’s work to help contain the cost of Prescription Drug Advertising. In fact we would support removing the taxable expense on Diet Coke and anything else not organic as well. But that’s just us!
If people want to watch Prescription Drug Ads……they can watch them on You Tube, My Space or Face Book. Maybe the Big Phrama people can put them on various web sites……..primarily Newspaper websites that need a way to monetize their content. That goes for popular blog sites as well.
Our country is one of the few if perhaps the only place that drug companies can charge just about what they want to for newer drugs.
Every new drug you see advertized as new great and helpful on the television, you can bet costs at least $150.00 a month or more. Many Private plans will not even cover these.
Watch also ads that promote joining lawsuits against drug companies, this is big business here also.
All this money comes out of someones pockets, guess who’s.
Yes we need new and improved drugs and we need to hold companies responsible for thier products, but it all seem to be way out of control at this time.
Covering everyone with some type of insurance is a start,which I support, but it is only a beginning to solving the long term problems.