We have twenty more days before we get rid of George W. Bush, at least in a presidential capacity. Polls say 75% of Americans will be glad to see him outta there but I believe that number is low. I'm betting that least half of the 23 percent who say they'll miss him are either late-night comedians or just plain fibbing about how they feel. Even if you believe in his goals and agenda, how could you not wish someone more competent were in there pushing for them?
In my first political-type prediction of the new year, I'm predicting that Bush has one more outrageous, poll-killing act in him...something that will drive his numbers even lower before he leaves and they start their forgiving way back up to the low thirties. I'm guessing it'll be a flock of pardons (and perhaps a lot of file destruction) calculated to prevent him or his associates from being prosecuted for war crimes, including plain, old-fashioned war profiteering. An awful lot of people have pocketed zillions of dollars of our tax money because of the Iraq War — a situation which the Bush administration has always seemed to view as one of the great upsides of the whole conflict. There are other transgressions that Bush probably feels are worthy of a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
I hope I'm wrong about this. I think it would do Democracy and our standing in the world a great amount of good to show that America is a place where leaders are accountable; that if they break laws, they get prosecuted for it. But I can't help but feel that the Bush position is going to be that no one did anything wrong...but let's just make sure no one can prove otherwise.
Over at Comicon.com, there's a story headlined, "SUPER-CREATOR TEAM-UP: NEAL ADAMS, JOE KUBERT and STAN LEE FIGHT FOR RETURN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR'S ART." It tells how those three great comic book creators are working together on a project that seeks to reclaim several portraits that a woman named Dina Gottliebova Babbitt was forced to paint at Auschwitz during World War II. A worthy cause.
But what caught my eye was a link to that story on the front page of the website. You know how headlines are sometimes truncated either by human effort or software limitations? Well, I'm not sure which but right this second on the front page of Comicon.Com under Latest Message Board Topics, it says: "ADAMS, KUBERT & LEE FIGHT FOR RETURN OF HOLOCAUST."
This article grabbed my attention. Starting today, the major drug companies have agreed to get rid of the "promotional items" they give out to doctors like pens that promote Zoloft or paperweights emblazened with the good name of Lyrica. In a sense, it's rather scary to think this was ever an effective marketing tool; that your doctor might be influenced in prescribing something for you because he had a lot of staplers in his office bearing the name of a particular drug.
My previous doctor, a very good man, had tons of that stuff around his office, which was a very large office housing four busy physicians. I don't think I was ever up there without seeing a couple of what he called Drug Ladies. A Drug Lady is an attractive young woman dressed in smart business attire who works for one of the leading pharmaceutical companies. The Drug Lady spends her day making the rounds of medical offices, wheeling in a large sample case and asking to speak with the doctor when he has a moment. Often, they wait for hours until he has such a moment, whereupon she dispenses a sales pitch, pamphlets, free samples and — I guess this part stops today — pens and memo pads and other goodies that shout the brand name.
My doctor regarded the Drug Ladies as necessary annoyances to his profession. Some physicians, he explained to me, put themselves on the equivalent of a "do not call" list or tell the receptionist to shoo them all away. He saw all comers and for a very good reason: He wanted the free samples. Matter of fact, Drug Ladies had learned that when they came to his office, they'd better bring tons of free samples and promise to ship over a steady supply. Otherwise, he'd refuse to see them and I guess they'd lose standing with their employers. Of one in particular, he said, "This office prescribes an awful lot of the drug she's pushing...and we would anyway, because it's a very good product. But her bosses think it's because of her salesmanship, and that's fine. Let them think that. What they don't realize is how much of it she smuggles to us so we can give it out free to patients."
That was this doctor's way of dealing with high drug prices. He'd prescribe something which, even with good insurance, might cost a hundred bucks or more a month to take. But unless the patient was super-rich — and some of his were — he'd also fill the prescription himself out of his closet for free. When he had me on a couple of expensive medications, I'd stagger home with bags full of little blister-packs of it. It was annoying to open all those little containers but it sure beat paying major buckos at the pharmacy.
Anyway, the tradeoff for all those freebees — and I think this was a good swap — was that the office was filled with promotional swag. Everywhere you looked, the stationery supplies had names of medications. Somewhere here, I have a Viagra® pen I picked up there years ago. I thought it might come in handy next time I have to write some dick jokes.
I dunno if this new ban on promotional items will somehow stem the traffic in free samples but I hope not. That particular doctor is now retired but I'm sure there are others supplying their patients that way. The price of some prescription drugs is appalling and anything which will enable someone to not pay those costs is fine with me.
December 31, 2008
