I am an avid reader of Consumer Reports. For three main reasons:
1.) I enjoy reading how human beings quantify and classify human-made products. Typically the products reviewed within the pages of this publication are items of luxury, the focus of the (perceived) American Dream. Televisions, stereos, Mp3 players, vacuums cleaners, refrigerators - these are the things that are dissected in Consumer Reports. These are the things that belong.
2.) I feel that as a person with monetary power (a power that only a minority of the world possesses) I have a responsibility to myself and to the larger global society to be informed when I make a purchase, especially a large one.
3.) My Aunt Jody read Consumer Reports religiously. As well as Reader's Digest (I read that, too. I have since I was about 9 years old). She was one of the most fascinating characters I have ever encountered. Reading what she read makes sense.
Having qulified that this is a publication that I enjoy and has a sentimental place in my heart... I was horrified (saddened, ticked - off, outraged) to retrieve the mail from the shiny silver box this past week and be greeted with this image:
What is on the inside Healthcare and more specifically, pharmaceuticals, analyzed and qualified in Consumer Reports.
Pharmaceuticals should NOT be marketed to consumers
Pharmaceuticals should NOT cost extraordinary amounts of money (The sticker price on a month of Humria is close to $2,000.00. This amounts to a whopping $24,000.00 a year.)
Patients should NEVER have to be in a position of having to refuse medically necessary treatments/therapies because of cost. There is a whole section in this month's issue of CR that advises readers that if a doctor prescribes medication X they should tell the doctor to try medication Y. Many times the drug that CR was recommending the patient ask for as a replacement was NOT the generic of the originally prescribed medication (as the magazine would lead the reader to believe) but instead the generic of an ENTIRELY different medication. Doctors have medical degrees. And, hopefully, reasons, for prescribing the treatments they do. A patient should not be forced into the position of blindly self-prescribing medication in a state of financial desperation.
Why does this bother me so much?
Because life does not belong to us. It is gifted to us by the Ultimate Creator. Human life is not for us to place price tags upon. It is for us to respect and approach with reverence. As beings of created worth, we have a responsibility to each other and to our Creator to take care of each other. Creating treatments of astronomical price and supporting a marketing system that promotes them widens the socioeconomic chasm that unfortunately exists between God's children. It also robs individuals of their humanity, not to mention their dignity. Human beings and their health (thus, their quality of life) should not be evaluated on the same level as inanimate objects such as : televisions, stereos, Mp3 players, vacuums cleaners and refrigerators. For each of these it is possible to quantify monetary value. Human life is priceless, precious and irreplaceable. It demands that we conduct our lives in a manner that pays homage to its worth.
1.) I enjoy reading how human beings quantify and classify human-made products. Typically the products reviewed within the pages of this publication are items of luxury, the focus of the (perceived) American Dream. Televisions, stereos, Mp3 players, vacuums cleaners, refrigerators - these are the things that are dissected in Consumer Reports. These are the things that belong.
2.) I feel that as a person with monetary power (a power that only a minority of the world possesses) I have a responsibility to myself and to the larger global society to be informed when I make a purchase, especially a large one.
3.) My Aunt Jody read Consumer Reports religiously. As well as Reader's Digest (I read that, too. I have since I was about 9 years old). She was one of the most fascinating characters I have ever encountered. Reading what she read makes sense.
Having qulified that this is a publication that I enjoy and has a sentimental place in my heart... I was horrified (saddened, ticked - off, outraged) to retrieve the mail from the shiny silver box this past week and be greeted with this image:
Pharmaceuticals should NOT be marketed to consumers
Pharmaceuticals should NOT cost extraordinary amounts of money (The sticker price on a month of Humria is close to $2,000.00. This amounts to a whopping $24,000.00 a year.)
Patients should NEVER have to be in a position of having to refuse medically necessary treatments/therapies because of cost. There is a whole section in this month's issue of CR that advises readers that if a doctor prescribes medication X they should tell the doctor to try medication Y. Many times the drug that CR was recommending the patient ask for as a replacement was NOT the generic of the originally prescribed medication (as the magazine would lead the reader to believe) but instead the generic of an ENTIRELY different medication. Doctors have medical degrees. And, hopefully, reasons, for prescribing the treatments they do. A patient should not be forced into the position of blindly self-prescribing medication in a state of financial desperation.
Why does this bother me so much?
Because life does not belong to us. It is gifted to us by the Ultimate Creator. Human life is not for us to place price tags upon. It is for us to respect and approach with reverence. As beings of created worth, we have a responsibility to each other and to our Creator to take care of each other. Creating treatments of astronomical price and supporting a marketing system that promotes them widens the socioeconomic chasm that unfortunately exists between God's children. It also robs individuals of their humanity, not to mention their dignity. Human beings and their health (thus, their quality of life) should not be evaluated on the same level as inanimate objects such as : televisions, stereos, Mp3 players, vacuums cleaners and refrigerators. For each of these it is possible to quantify monetary value. Human life is priceless, precious and irreplaceable. It demands that we conduct our lives in a manner that pays homage to its worth.
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