Mylan pushed for law to make EpiPens mandatory in US schools — then fled overseas to avoid taxes

Posted on August 26, 2016 by bitemaster

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch (Fortune Live Media/Flickr)

EpiPen is the brand name of an device that makes it easy to inject a pre-measured dose of epinephrine (adrenaline), most often for the treatment of anaphylaxis.

Mylan, the manufacturer of the EpiPen, spent $4 million lobbying Congress to pass the 2013 School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act
The Act offers incentives to schools to stock the potentially life-saving EpiPen
After the law was passed, 11 states mandated that their schools stock EpiPens
Your tax dollars help pay for many of the EpiPens — through incentives (see #2, above), mandates (see #3, above), purchases by the Veterans Administration, reimbursements by Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, as well as reimbursements by the health plans of state and local governments
Having established a healthy demand for their product, Mylan did a “corporate inversion” in 2015, that converted them from a US company into a Dutch company, so they no longer pay any US taxes
Not content with screwing us on taxes, Mylan jacked up the price of the EpiPen from $104 (2009) to $609 (2016)

But it’s not all bad news, Heather Bresch, the Mylan CEO has at least been compensated for her hard work on behalf of the company’s customers: her salary has gone from $4.9 million (2009) to $13.1 million (2015 — most recent year for which figures are available).

Source: Mylan pushed for law to make EpiPens mandatory in US schools — then fled overseas to avoid taxes

Radioactive water leaks into groundwater at Indian Point, Cuomo forms task force

Posted on February 7, 2016 by bitemaster

Radioactive water leaked into the groundwater at the Indian Point nuclear facility, officials said Saturday.

In response to the nuclear leak at Indian Point, NY Governor Cuomo has formed an expert working group to be headed by former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman. Her chief of staff is expected to be Michael DeWayne “Brownie” Brown. Flint Michigan Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz was briefly considered for a position with the working group, but was rejected as “too qualified.”

Source: Radioactive water leaks into groundwater at Indian Point – NY Daily News

Texas law leads to more attempts at self-induced abortions

Posted on November 19, 2015 by bitemaster

A Texas law aimed at restricting abortions, which took effect in 2013, has led to more women trying to end a pregnancy on their own, while the number of clinical procedures in the state has declined, according to a study released on Tuesday.

And conservatives everywhere are thinking, “Thank God we’ve gone back to the good old days when poor women used coat hangers and the daughters of the rich were sent for a vacation at a ‘clinic’ in Switzerland.”

Source: Texas law leads to more attempts at self-induced abortions, study finds | Fox News

Ben Carson actually says something interesting about Jeb Bush and the Terri Schiavo case

Posted on November 15, 2015 by bitemaster

Asked about Bush’s intervention by the Tampa Bay Times on Friday, Carson said the governor [Jeb Bush] should have stayed out the Schiavo case.“I said at the time, ‘We face those kinds of issues all the time and while I don’t believe in euthanasia, you have to recognize that people that are in that condition do have a series of medical problems that occur that will take them out,’ ” Carson explained. “Your job is to keep them comfortable throughout that process and not to treat everything that comes up.”

Source: Ben Carson raps Jeb Bush for intervening in Terri Schiavo case: ‘It was much ado about nothing’

Biteme to GOP: Fuck you

Posted on June 26, 2015 by bitemaster

The U.S. Supreme Court has handed President Obama another major victory regarding his signature health care law.

Republicans made sure to disembowel the Affordable Care Act before they passed it, then they tried to defund it, weaken it and repeal it. They tried mocking it by calling it Obamacare. They forced poor Mitt Romney to back away from his signature Massachusetts legislation that was the precursor to Obamacare. They lied about it over and over. They used it to try and defeat President Obama’s reelection. They opposed it in every state legislature, denying coverage to millions who needed it. They fought it through the courts.

After a five-year full-court press, they lost in the Supreme Court.

They could have spent that time trying to fix the law’s defects but chose instead to screw Americans out of healthcare coverage.

Fuck them.

Source: Supreme Court rules in favor of Obamacare subsidies – NY Daily News

Conservative spurns Obamacare and insurance — but blames Obama now that he’s going broke and blind

Posted on May 12, 2015 by bitemaster

Luis Lang is a smoker and diabetic who doesn’t believe in health insurance. But now that he’s going blind he suddenly wants in. His wife, Mary, whines “He should be at the front of the line because he doesn’t work and because he has medical issues. We call it the Not Fair Health Care Act.”

Hey, Luis, why would you want to submit yourself to those Death Panels anyway? Stand up, be a man, pay your own way, don’t mooch off the taxpayers. And, lastly, Bite Me!

Source: Conservative spurns Obamacare and insurance — but blames Obama now that he’s going broke and blind

If you use a pharmacy in Georgia, better hope the pharmacist isn’t a Christian Scientist

Posted on April 14, 2015 by bitemaster

Georgia pharmacists can refuse to fill prescriptions that violate their conscience, so it’s best to grill your pharmacist in advance about what prescriptions they’re willing to fill, so you don’t get caught without your pain pills, chemotherapy meds, contraceptives, or nitroglycerin.

Letting the government mess with the practice of pharmacy sure is a mixed blessing.

Walmart uses Georgia ‘conscience clause’ to refuse woman’s miscarriage treatment.

Pat McElraft wants to make sure the doctor who performs your abortion doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing

Posted on April 9, 2015 by bitemaster

North Carolina state Rep. Pat McElraft is sponsoring legislation that will prevent medical schools in the state from training doctors in how to perform abortions.

You’re thinking “Who cares? I’m not stuck in the fetid swamp known as the Tar Heel State.” But it does matter, since the University of North Carolina is one of the country’s top five OB-GYN residency programs, so there’s a fair chance your OB-GYN trained there.

Oh well, it’s back to the coat hanger. Only this time, it will be wielded by an actual M.D.

Abortion Opponents Are Quietly Going After One Of The Top Medical Schools In The Country | ThinkProgress.

Lobbyist won’t drink the Kool-aid!

Posted on March 27, 2015 by bitemaster

Dr. Patrick Moore, a Monsanto lobbyist, claimed in a recent interview that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide is safe for humans to drink. “You can drink a whole quart of it and it won’t hurt you,” he says. But when offered a glass of the stuff by the interviewer, Moore turns it down, saying “I’m not stupid.”

Hey, Pat! Here’s a tip that all the old PR hands will tell you: Either don’t claim one can safely drink a quart of the client’s weed killer or swig down the glass with a smile.

Lobbyist claims Monsanto weed killer is safe to drink, then bolts when TV host offers him a glass.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks out against vaccine requirements. Nobody listens.

Posted on March 24, 2015 by bitemaster

Calling the federal agency that makes recommendations on vaccines a “sock puppet” for that industry, Robert Kennedy Jr. spoke out Monday against making it harder for parents to exempt their children from vaccinations.

But who gives a crap? Kennedy is a notorious anti-vaxxer, and bullshit artist.

Robert Kennedy Jr. speaks out against vaccine requirements – NY Daily News.

And see the National Review.

BiteMe

Unbelievably Annoying Stuff

Category Archives: Health