Targeting Big Pharma Price Gouging, Sanders Backs California Ballot Fight

[99th_Monkey]

This man, named Bernie Sanders, has his antenna fully functioning & he identifies
most with "the least of these", i.e. victims of systemic violence and
abuse, and the casualties of The War Against the Poor.

In terms of candidates for public office, it doesn't get much better than Bernie, and
I stand proudly with him and the rest of humanity, what's Left of it.

___________________________

Targeting Big Pharma Price Gouging, Sanders Backs California Ballot Fight
'It is no surprise that the pharmaceutical industry has already dedicated $50 million to defeat this ballot initiative. Their greed has no end.'
May 10, 2016 * Source: Common Dreams

Backing a citizen-led initiative to combat soaring drugs prices in California, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Tuesday endorsed a ballot proposal designed to curb what he described as a corporate "rip-off" of the state's sick and vulnerable.

"It is no surprise that the pharmaceutical industry has already dedicated $50 million to defeat this ballot initiative. Their greed has no end. Enough is enough! Drug companies shouldn’t be allowed to make billions of dollars in profits off of people with cancer and AIDS who are in desperate need of lifesaving drugs. I hope very much that this ballot initiative passes." —Bernie Sanders"While Congress has failed to stand up to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, the people of California can by supporting this ballot initiative," Sanders said while campaigning in the state on Tuesday.

Called the California Drug Price Relief Act, the measure in question, as described by the San Francisco Chronicle, "would restrict California health programs from paying more for prescription drugs than what’s paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs." Given the enormous leverage of the VA, those drug prices are often the lowest available anywhere in the nation.

Backed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the National Nurses United (NNU), and Californians for Lower Drug Prices campaign, voters will have a chance to vote on the initiative in November after supporters collected more than half a million signatures to get it on the ballot.

Mike Roth, a spokesman for Californians for Lower Drug Prices, has called the proposal "the most comprehensive drug price reduction initiative" California has put before voters in more than a decade and a very real opportunity to combat the "greed" of Big Pharma.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/10/targeting-big-pharma-price-gouging-sanders-backs-california-ballot-fight

[cui bono]

1. We NEED Bernie.

Hillary would never stand up to Big Pharma. She'll stand in front of them for speaking fees though.

But in the ensuing years, both Clintons have taken millions of dollars in speaking fees from the health care industry. According to public disclosures, Hillary Clinton alone, from 2013 to 2015, made $2,847,000 from 13 paid speeches to the industry.
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/13/hillary-clinton-single-payer/

.

[Recursion]

2. This is a much better idea than financing reform. Glad to see this.

We need to actually lower prices from providers.