Someone Moved My Cheese

On October 13th of 2004, I was permanently laid off my job for the first time in my life! I accepted it as gracefully as was possible, I believe, and without a display of anger, in spite of the ridiculous methods used to evaluate those who would were selected to be laid off. For one thing, those of us who were experienced in the job had to train many newbies in our particular field to do our jobs. Management decided to merge us with another department before elimination of our jobs, which, of course, cost the company even more money. Anyway...that's another story...

I had some severance pay coming and I knew that, plus unemployment funds would be enough to get us by for a while. It is now December 6th and I am still unemployed. I am not worried (I tell myself), but I am concerned. I am now 53 years old and about to walk into a new field out there somewhere with an over-abundance of age discrimination hanging over my head. If it weren't for a strong foundation in my belief of God, I would, more likely than not, be a nervous wreck by now!

Although I do have a daughter still in her third year of college and a good sized mortgage for one income, the hardest blow to me was having to give up our health insurance. We have about seven prescriptions per month that we must purchase in order to exist and be able to function with relatively normal lives. Instead of paying $40.00 (1.33 per pill) each for our prescriptions as we did when we had health insurance, we are now paying $128.00 (4.27 per pill) each for the higher-priced meds. That, by the way, includes a discount from K-Mart because they were kind enough to help out after I told them about the job-situation.

It wasn't until all this began that I really took an interest in what many people (especially the seniors) had been complaining about regarding the Rx Rip-Off here in America! It seems that the drug companies are ripping America off in a unbelievable way!

I never could understand how Saddam Hussein could be so inhumane to his own countrymen in some of the the cruel things he had done to them over the years. Kindness to his people would have gotten him so much more than the hate they now harbor in their hearts for him. But he chose to instill hate in them rather than love and trust.

What does this have to do with the drug companies? THE DRUG COMPANIES ARE RIPPING THE AMERICAN CONSUMER OFF and Americans are dying because we can't afford the meds necessary for our survival!!!

In an article titled The Insiders (by Patricia Barry) on page 10 of the AARP Bulletin for November 2004, Peter Rost, M.D., vice president of marketing for the endocrinology division of Pfizer Inc., points out that over 700,000 Americans die each year from heart disease and refers to studies showing that 50 percent of people on cholesterol-lowering drugs don't even use them as prescribed, and the more they have to pay, the more they stop taking them. "So it is obvious to me that probably tens of thousands of Americans are dying today because they can't afford drugs. And once you recognize that this is the case, if you don't speak up, you're really part of the problem." Two other insiders in this same article speak out and tell how the drug industry really works. I won't retype it all here, but I will add links to all the relevant articles, etc., I can find on this subject. The main idea here is that if people don't stand up and speak out, we will continue to be ripped off by immoral companies who don't care about human lives.

IT IS AN IMMORAL AND DESPICABLE ACT FOR THE DRUG COMPANIES TO CHARGE PEOPLE SUCH OUTRAGEOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO KEEP THEM ALIVE WHEN THE ACTUAL COSTS TO MAKE THE DRUG ARE SO MUCH LESS!!!

I hope everyone who reads this will contact their congressmen and let them know that Americans are tired of these rip-offs and the deaths that are being contributed to because some money-hungry drug company would rather let someone die than to take a cut in profit! Please email and let me know if there is anything more I can add to this that might help with this endeavor.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. Now, please join me in taking a stand for other Americans! God bless America! -Bill Allen

Email Billy A




~Other Related Articles~

The Dope on Drugmakers (By Patricia Barry)

Canada Wants to Stop U.S. Prescription Buyers

Prescription Drugs (AARP)(Several Good Articles)

Rx Rip-Off, by Bill Allen (with Legislative links)

~Miscellaneous Links~

AddRiches.com

Friends In Prayer (plus)

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