Whoa!!! I Agree With Al Franken?

[MountainDon]

 

I don't believe it.  Al Franken has sponsored a Senate Bill I basically agree with! 

S. 1763 would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to deny the deduction for advertising and promotional expenses for prescription pharmaceuticals. In other words it would likely eliminate all the ads for erectile dysfunction products as well as all those ads that promote this drug for that problem and that drug for this other problem.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1763

I've believed for years that the advertising of Rx drugs mostly creates demand for drugs that mainly enrich the coffers of drug companies.

[glenn kangiser]

That'll be a hard one for big pharma and the rest of politicians invested in them, Don.

[RainDog]

I'd think the argument against it would be that the resultant income loss would adversely effect budgeting for research and development of new drugs for cure and treatment of disease. I mean, you know it's not going to come out of executive pay or perks.

[RainDog]

Or maybe it's just that when I think of Al Franken the urge to run up and kick him in the rear overpowers my ability to consider anything else rationally.

[ScottA]

Doesn't this prove the Congress is really just a saturday night live skit?

[John Raabe]

Only two countries in the world allow prescription drug advertising. Us and New Zealand.  We didn't use to.

Big Pharama will adjust if it has to - and may actually divert more R&D to usefull drugs rather than ones people can be scared into buying in mass quantities.

I feel such advertising probably helps create hypochondriacs.

But will the $$$$ in the political pipeline be too much for congress?

[MountainDon]

An interesting website on the issue...

http://prescriptiondrugs.procon.org/

The home website   http://www.procon.org  has an assortment of topics to "...promote critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship. Our sites present controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."


They have a related topic... "Should all Americans have the right (be entitled) to health care?"

http://healthcare.procon.org/