The Pills that Kill

“In 2017, the drug industry middleman Express Scripts announced that it was taking decisive steps to curb abuse of the prescription painkillers that had fueled America’s overdose crisis. The company said it was “putting the brakes on the opioid epidemic” by making it harder to get potentially dangerous amounts of the drugs. The announcement, which came after pressure from federal health regulators, was followed by similar declarations from the other two companies that control access to prescription drugs for most Americans. The self-congratulatory statements, however, didn’t address an important question: Why hadn’t the middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, acted sooner to address a crisis that had been building for decades?” If you’ve been following any story about American health care over the past couple centuries, you can probably guess the answer. NYT (Gift Article): Giant Companies Took Secret Payments to Allow Free Flow of Opioids. The opioid crisis is underrated as an explanation for Americans’ dwindling faith in institutions. Health care failed them. Their doctors failed them. The federal government failed them. These often greed-driven failures led to a national tragedy that has only been compounded by the failure to properly address the scourge.