ppp 05-19-08

Quote of the day: Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

“Everyone” seems to be obsessed with the price of gasoline at present. My brother canceled our annual trip up to northern Minnesota citing the price of gasoline. His Suburban can guzzle a “c-note” and not be full. At 15miles per gallon our 400 mile round trip would still be a lot even when split. If we wait for the price of gasoline to go down then I might as well sell my fishing pole and gear.

The good old days. Gas was $1.00 per gallon. A load of bread? …the same. A gallon of milk for under $2. You could rent a nice apartment for $200 a month and most cars were under $7,000. All sounds pretty cheap by today’s prices. The part I didn’t mention was that salaries were also lower in proportion.

People often complain about the things that they purchase out of pocket…bread, milk, gas and prescriptions. Luxury item increases go relatively unnoticed. Starbucks raised their prices about 2 weeks ago but I heard no protests and saw no pickets. It barely made the news. I know from personal experience that college tuition has increased by 10% per year for the last 10 years. Unless you had a child or two in school you may not have noticed. Gas has increased lately and most everyone notices.

What does a dollar a gallon increase in price mean for the average person? The average person drives 15,000 miles per year. At 20 miles per gallon this would take 750 gallons… that is $2250/year at $3/gallon or $3000 at $4/gal. Sounds like a lot but represents a $14.42 per week increase. That would be equivalent to one cup of Starbuck per day or less.

As recently as 1998 the average cost of a generic prescription was $6 for a month's supply. The AARP, that “negative Nellie” on health care, has acknowledged a 10% drop in generic prescription prices since last year. The cost of a generic prescription is higher now than it was 10 years ago but now headed in the “right direction”. Walgreens and others are pushing things lower with their $4 programs. The saving might allow seniors to buy more coffee at $60 per gallon or much more gasoline at $4/gallon.

ps. Best answer this week to the question "How are you?" was "Good... I mean super de dooper ultimate fantastic"

pps. Occasionally, some of the links require FREE registration.... I'm sure you can handle THAT slight inconvenience.

2)… but more than half of Americans are taking at least 1 prescription drug

The Americans studied are “insured American” and the drugs are for chronic conditions. I’m sure that the aging of America and the DTC advertising and aggressive treatment of hypertension and high cholesterol contribute.

My mother saved a letter I wrote from Boy Scout camp when I was 13. I gave them a little news and asked for them to send money. The FDA has been at camp for awhile and have just wriiten home for money. I asked for a lot less that $275 million. Hope the FDA fares better than “little Stevie” did.

Text messaging your teens to take their chronic medications helps them be compliant and stay healthy. Note: bff= best friends forever pos=parent over shoulder (used when instant messaging to alert recipient that conversation may be changing)

CDC is now recommending a vaccine against “Shingles” (varicella-zoster virus responsible for chicken pox) for those over 60 years old. Activation of the latent virus in Grandma or grandpa occurs when exposed to the chicken pox virus.

TV ads often talk about indications, contraindications and side effects. There is now a push to add a toll free number for patients to report side effects that they experience. Not a totally bad idea… more date will be collected but the quality may suffer.

Senate debating a bill requiring reporting the gifts that drug companies can make to physicians. Original limit was $25. A more realistic reporting limit of $500 will uncover potential conflicts of interest. (Most physicians make $25 in less that 15 minutes).

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