This is part of an ongoing series that gives Bronx writers a chance to share their personal stories on the state of healthcare in America.

by Elizabeth Kelly, October 29, 2018

Profits Before Patients?  

What I learned from reading the Healthcare series in thisistheBronX

You may think Big Pharma profits don’t affect you but, in truth, we are all are paying bruising amounts — in taxes, in public health metrics, in harm to our democratic institutions — so that our largest pharmaceutical companies can pocket profit margins THREE TIMES LARGER than other Fortune 500 companies. And what do all these statistics have to do with the stories in This is the Bronx?

Big Pharma makes record-setting profits even after subtracting massive sums for marketing, hundreds of millions in executive compensation, tens of billions on stock buybacks to make investors richer and, of course, more hundreds of millions on campaign donations and lobbying than any other sector.

How can this be? Let’s begin with just one very public example that put a spotlight on why I support NY Health (“Improved Medicare for All New Yorkers”), a state bill that will bring affordable universal healthcare coverage, and rein in Big Pharma — much as every other developed country has, just as our own Veteran’s Administration has.

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