American Healthcare Industry Is Designed To Keep Up Sick for Profits

Title: American healthcare industry is designed to keep up sick for profits

General purpose: To persuade

Specific Purpose: To convince the audience to visualize how the pharmaceutical industry has shifted from protecting the patients to profit-seeking.

Thesis: Pharmaceutical companies such as Big Pharma are more concerned with making big profits than finding the cure for diseases and ailments that benefit the consumer.

Introduction

Attention Getter : Pharmaceutical companies find themselves in a major dilemma. As business entities, they have to make profits to enhance sustainability. On the other hand, they are held in high regard as companies that should foster the health of individuals, and as such, their priority should hinge on corporate social responsibility.

Reason to Listen : With many people remaining uninsured, drugs remain one of the most expensive medical services that individuals can access. As a result, understanding the recent trends in exorbitant drug prices enables one to appreciate the worrying dynamics in the drug industry.

Thesis Statement : Pharmaceutical companies such as Big Pharma are more concerned with making big profits than finding the cure for diseases and ailments that benefit the consumer.

Credibility statement : As a student in journalism, my research on the pharmaceutical industries and their pricing strategy has been one of the primary concerns in a bid to determine how well they leverage their corporate social responsibility. 

Preview of the Main Points:

First, I will discuss how Big Pharma is designed not to find cures for diseases and ailments. 

Secondly, I will highlight how drug prices in the United States are far much higher compared to overseas countries.

Thirdly, I will show how Food and Drug Administration (FDA), corporations, medical vendors, doctors, pharmaceutical industry are all on the same page with profits.

Body

Big Pharma has been depicted as a company mainly focused on profit making at the expense of producing drugs that benefit their consumers. In what has come to be known as the Big Pharma Conspiracy, the company suppresses natural cures on the basis that they are not patented and as such, not profitable to sell (Blaskiewicz, 2013). 

Instead, the company focuses on distributing less effective, patented, and expensive drugs which the patient will require to use from time to time. 

Part of the conspiracy also claims that Big Pharma has the cure for cancer but is unwilling to sell on the grounds that if people are cancer free, then they will lose vast amounts of revenue on the drug sale.

Transition: Now that you understand how pharmaceutical companies suppress treatment at the expense of profits, it is now vital to note how drug prices in the US are relatively expensive. 

The drug prices in the US is way more than in many overseas countries especially Europe. 

Most importantly, it remains critical to note that drug prices in the US are left to market competition compared to other countries where governments, directly or indirectly have a hand in controlling the costs (Kesselheim, Avorn, & Sarpatwari, 2016). 

Overall, drug prices in the US are three times more than the cost in many European countries (Simoens, 2012). The prices are also six times more compared with South American countries such as Brazil. Also, in comparison to one of the lowest economies in Asia, the prices are approximately 16 times higher than in India. 

Transition : After appreciating the relatively exorbitant prices in the US, it is essential to understand the role of stakeholders in this impasse.

The FDA has played a critical role in the conspiracies of drug suppression. First, their role in approving less effective and expensive drugs makes them complicit to the profit-seeking companies (Ballreich et al. 2017).

Corporations, medical vendors, doctors are also an extension of the conspiracy to reap off profits from the drugs. According toWhalen (2015), studies have shown that doctors receiving funds from pharmaceutical companies are likely to prescribe a particular brand of medication as a reward.

Conclusion

First, I have discussed how Big Pharma is designed not to find cures for diseases and ailments. 

Secondly, I have highlighted how drug prices in the United States are far much higher compared to overseas countries.

Thirdly, I have shown how Food and Drug Administration (FDA), corporations, medical vendors, doctors, pharmaceutical industry are all on the same page with profits.

Closure : Without any significant control from the government, drug companies will continue taking advantage of their thirst for money to engage in unethical practices that affect the citizens health-wise and economically. 

References

Ballreich, J., Alexander, G. C., Socal, M., Karmarkar, T., & Anderson, G. (2017). Branded prescription drug spending: a framework to evaluate policy options. Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, 10(1), 31.

Blaskiewicz, R. (2013). The Big Pharma conspiracy theory. Medical Writing, 22(4), 259-261.

Kesselheim, A. S., Avorn, J., & Sarpatwari, A. (2016). The high cost of prescription drugs in the United States: origins and prospects for reform. Jama, 316(8), 858-871.

Simoens, S. (2012). A review of generic medicine pricing in Europe. Gabi Journal, 1(1), 8-12.

Whalen, J. (2015). Doctors object to high cancer-drug prices. The Wall Street Journal.