Anti MediCare Ads.

[Kutjara]

MSNBC and a number of other channels in my area (SoCal) are being inundated with an ad claiming that MediCare is running fabulously and providing excellent care to seniors. It exhorts voters to contact their Congressthings and demand that they oppose proposed fixed-price medication legislation, on the grounds that it would somehow be very bad for patients. The ad goes on to crow that "competition" has kept the cost of medicine down and that fixed-prices would ruin the magic and usher in Satan's dominion over the Earth (I'm paraphrasing).

You'll be unsurprised to know that the ads are funded (according to the tiny and blurry web address given at the end of the ad) by phRMA. Who are phRMA, you ask? Let's let them tell you in their own words (from www.phRMA.org):

<snip>

Who We Are:

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country’s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives. PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for new cures. PhRMA members alone invested an estimated $39.4 billion in 2005 in discovering and developing new medicines. Industry wide research and investment reached a record $51.3 billion in 2005.

Mission Statement:

PhRMA's mission is to conduct effective advocacy for public policies that encourage discovery of important new medicines for patients by pharmaceutical/biotechnology research companies.
More

Member Companies:

PhRMA represents the leading research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the United States.

<unsnip>

I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked. Anyone else shocked?

[Monkeyman]

1. Nope

[Kutjara]

2. Thought not.

:hi:

[depakid]

3. When Clinton's FDA allowed PhARMA to advertise drugs on TV

That pretty much guaranteed we'd see things like this- and much more and much worse.

With all of their deceptive ads and disease mongering, the drug companies are now one of the corporate media's biggest sponsors. Does anyone really think that these corporation aren't going to shill for their advertisers?

[Kutjara]

4. Drug advertising is one genie that definitely needs...

...to be crammed back into the bottle.