SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

When government has its hands in your medicine

Apr 7, 2017, 4:52 PM

medicine...

Pills. (Oliver.Dodd, Flickr)

(Oliver.Dodd, Flickr)

Do you know that, courtesy of government rules, your doctor doesn’t receive the full information about medicine available to you? Because it’s illegal?

It is illegal for a pharmaceutical company to tell your doctor about a legal, alternative use for medicine.

RELATED: Why the profit motive belongs in health care

So, let’s say you have a vascular condition. And there is a drug that was originally designed for acne, but that drug for acne can be used for this vascular condition. In fact, it’s been legally approved for vascular use. But it is still illegal for a pharmaceutical representative to inform your doctor about that.

About 20 percent of prescriptions in America can be used “off label,” which means they can be used for other ailments.

When people speak about the free market costs in health care, they don’t see the government costs with their insane rules. There are drugs that are already available and side effects fully understood, yet, doctors aren’t allowed to know about these alternative uses.

Why is this illegal? Because the FDA wants it to be illegal; they want a new drug to be developed.

And did you know that during your “free” preventive examine built into Obamacare, that if your doctor finds something wrong with you that is not covered by the exam, they are not allowed to tell you?

That is government medicine!

As always, please listen to the full audio clip for complete context.

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When government has its hands in your medicine