Wonder Why Medical Care Cost So Much?

     Here's One Reason Why...

Charles Ornstein | ProPublica, July 6, 2015"A nurse practitioner in Connecticut pleaded guilty in June to taking $83,000 in kickbacks from a drug company in exchange for prescribing its high-priced drug to treat cancer pain. In some cases, she delivered promotional talks attended only by herself and a company sales representative.

But when the federal government released data Tuesday on payments by drug and device companies to doctors and teaching hospitals, the payments to nurse practitioner Heather Alfonso, 42, were nowhere to be found

That’s because the federal Physician Payment Sunshine Act doesn’t require companies to publicly report payments to nurse practitioners or physician assistants, even though they are allowed to write prescriptions in most states."

Oft times medical practitioners receive a kick back 6% commission on the drugs they prescribe.

Hence it's in their economic interests to prescribe brand name medicines over generics.