re: The great generic drug rip off

The greatest mark up is at the wholesale level. Wholesalers that do zero in the way of pt care make the most profit on the sale of the meds. And hospitals and other "institutional" pharmacies get meds wholesale by at least 50% less than any retail store and often times much less than that. At the same time, they are reimbursed at much higher prices than retail. If retail pharmacies got the same prices, prices could be cut by at least half to consumers. Our system is fricked up. And you can't blame doctors or pharmacists or even big pharma. It's politics plain and simple. Our dysfunctional insurance system has no rhyme or reason to it. Hospital lobbyists affect it as much or more than big pharma. So does private insurance. Not to mention medical supply vendors. It's ridiculous when a saleperson gets more in commission for selling a back brace (used to be up to $900/brace commission) than a doctor does for a colonoscopy with removal of polyps or even cutting out a melanoma of certain size and location. Hell, last I checked Medicaid paid $1200 for global care and delivery for an entire pregnancy. The whole system is bullshite and obamacare just made it worse...especially on drug prices. Drug prices have skyrocketed since this shite storm hit land.