FWIW-An exercise regimen that includes vigorous cardio will do more to control hypertension than any pill, plus a gym membership would be cheaper than the prescription too.

"We don't need health care reform. We need a complete overhaul-- of the system. including the pharmaceutical companies, the physicians, the hospitals, and above all, the insurance companies."

Mary - I fail to see where this is the insurance company's fault. Don't get me wrong, I think that what some of the pharmaceutical companies try to (and do) get away with is bordering on criminal, but you said "above all, the insurance companies" as if the insurance company is the one that set the exorbitant rate of $110 per pill. I certainly don't see how the "health care reform" that we are all hearing about today would alleviate that since it would only move people to a single payer (socialist) health care payment system and that would have nothing to do with the actual health care, just who pays for it (the taxpayers).

(If anyone deems this post "fishy" enough to report, please make sure you spell my name right...THOM. Thanks)

A question for Thom (and in general to all.) It just occurred to me after the connection you made in your post.

If the insurance companies and the pharmaceuticals are not in each other's pockets then why have the huge insurance concerns put more money into lobbying for more regulation on the costs of the medications they pay for? Seems very suspicious to me.

The lion and the hyena may eat off the same kill. This does not make them partners; but their relationship is meaningless to the prey. Nobody's fault.

With the health care reform that has been proposed as single payer INS, then your concerns will transfer from the high cost of meds. to the nonexistence of quality health care in general. I have spoken with friends from Europe as well as Canada and the socialized health care in both Germany and Canada have increased wait times for procedures such as CT scans and MRI's to upwards of four to six months. The US has the best health care in the world, and the reform bill as it is written now will dumb it down to that of the European countries. Why do you think that dignitaries from all over the world come to this country to have the health managed? Why are people in Canada crossing the boarder to get there procedures done out of their own pockets. Could it be that the model that the OBAMA administration is patterning their policy after is working so well that the Canadians are coming over to shout its praises? Yes, their are people that need help with their health care, then take care of them and leave the rest of us alone.

"The US has the best health care in the world, and the reform bill as it is written now will dumb it down to that of the European countries"

Ph-Leze.. just wait until you are in the hospital and your insurance company tells your doctor it is time for you to go home. The insurance company that only knows you by a policy number and a monthly premium. Just wait until you have paid for a Cancer Policy for 25 years and the day they tell you that you have Cancer .. the insurance company drops you like a hot potato (believe me it happens everyday)

I have to laugh a little at these people who blame the hospitals or the doctors instead of the insurance companies about the price of health care. There seems to be enough blame to go around these days with the customer getting it from both ends. Cry socialized medicine all you want but in reality we are already paying for people who have no health care and insurance companies control your services. Just wait until you have a loved one dying of cancer and the insurance company tells your doctor, send him home we have done all we are paying for.. oh and you thought only people die of dreadful diseases that have brought them on themselves, oh so not true!!! Ever go to the hospital or the doctor with someone who has no insurance and have exactly the same test run? Try it sometimes you will see those without insurance pay much less than you..probably even much less than what your co-pay is..and yet you still think you are not already paying for them. Or maybe you think people who have no health care should not get any health care at all? I prefer sick people get treatment because without it we all are exposed to the disease. Everyone without health care are not Aids infested or druggies we still have the working poor, the single moms working 2 jobs just to feed her kids, the children who are not old enough to get a job, the people looking everyday for a job only to find nothing.

Medicaid, Medicare and even TNCare have been limiting the amount the hospitals and doctors can charge for services for years. How can they charge so little to these and still make a profit and yet double charge my insurance company? Let me give you a hint: YOU ARE PAYING FOR THE EXTRA :thru higher premiums, higher hospital/doctor cost and higher co-pays. Insurance Companies control the doctors and hospitals, in return they both control you!!! Maybe ObamaCare isn't the best answer to the problem but something, somewhere is going to have to be done about the prices of healthcare somebody is going to have to control what hospitals and doctors can charge. Somebody, somewhere is going to have to inform the insurance companies they work for us and they do not dictate what services a doctor or hospital should perform. Somebody, somewhere is going to have to step up and protect the patient instead of hospitals and doctors or insurance companies!! Do you have a better plan? Or do you still believe The United States has the best healthcare in the world. If you do believe that, then your time is coming to make you change your mind. No matter how much you take care of yourself, eat right or go to the gym we are all going to die. Some of us lucky few may die quietly in their sleep but most of us will die a long extended, painful death. I have never in my life known anybody to live forever and I certainly have never heard anybody die from being healthy.