The EpiPen follies – the latest failure of Big Government

Livid liberals have rent their garments over the high price of EpiPens, convenient devices designed to deliver a dose of epinephrine to children and others suffering from anaphylaxis, potentially very severe reactions to allergies or bee stings. The cost recently was increased to $600 for a kit of two. It was $100 when Mylan, the evil corporation in question, acquired the product. The news media have ramped up the feeding frenzy by breathless reportage highlighting a poor family or two and attacking “Big Pharma.” That they did not report the alternatives shows they are less concerned with the substantive issues than with the subtext that free market greed has once again failed us – when will we get single-payer, 100% Federally controlled , reliable, caring, socialized medicine, their whining seems to imply? The fly in the ointment is of course that in medical matters we have nothing approaching a free market and have not had for a very long time.

The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act (signed by Obama Nov. 2013,) was passed after heavy lobbying by Mylan. (We note that the CEO of Mylan is the daughter of W. Va. Senator Manchin, a Democrat. Look away, no smoke here.) This legislation encourages the use of “auto-injectors” through financial incentives to states enact laws to require the devices This term really means EpiPens, as they are by far the best known auto-injectors currently available. There was no competition after Mylan’s only competitor issued a voluntary recall over miscalibration of the dosage.

But there is an auto-injector alternative, which is unsurprisingly little reported:

But EpiPen isn’t the only epinephrine injector on the market; the authorized generic of Adrenaclick (epinephrine auto-injector), is a cheaper option—we found it for $142 at Walmart and Sam’s Club using a coupon from GoodRx. While generic Adrenaclick isn’t the same technology and is used differently than EpiPen, both auto-injectors contain the same drug, epinephrine, available in the same dosages, says Barbara Young, Pharm.D., of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. (Source: Consumers Reports. Full article here.)

It should surprise no one that a home-brew substitute for the EpiPen can be made for less than $10. Just buy a vial of epinephrine, a syringe, and a case like an Altoid tin. Full, physician-approved instructions here. Using a syringe should not be a problem. Many inject their diabetic dogs. Many diabetics inject themselves daily. Just avoid injecting into a vein. EMTs administer epinephrine this way.

Failure of the free market? No, failure of Big Government, for legislation mandating EpiPens instead of substitutes regardless of costs and largely restricting the use of syringes in schools to licensed nurses. Thus we have $10 worth of product transformed into $600 of expense thanks to compassionate government. Not to speak of another government failure for a tax regimen leading many companies, including Mylan, to move headquarters abroad in a corporate inversion. (Inversion has been on the mind of the Obama administration for quite a while.)

Troglo (L. H. Kevil)

Voter fraud, hackers, and George Soros

In the past I have written about some of the issues of voter fraud committed by people posing as legitimate voters. These famously include the dogs and dead people voting in St Louis – for Democrats strangely, though I have never encountered a dog who would vote for a Democrat. Voter fraud is a real concern, despite what Democrats may claim. More details here. A current member of the Missouri General Assembly was elected on the basis of proven voter fraud.

The stories linked here and here detail the many problems with voting machines. For once my alma mater Princeton is on the good side of an issue, showing how to hack a voting machine in seven minutes flat. In short voting machines are less secure than one’s iphone and openly invite hacking. It reminds me of the old joke about Louisiana selling its old voting machines to Mexico – Edwin Edwards was suddenly elected Presidente.

As a side note, Boone County, Missouri has steadfastly refused to purge its voter rolls, contrary to Federal law. It makes sense that it is easier for dogs and dead people to vote if they are maintained on the voter rolls. The County was facing a Federal lawsuit in 2008, which was mysteriously dropped January 2009. Hmmm.

In the meantime the Federal Courts, the legislative wing of the Democrat party, have been busy striking down state laws designed to restore trust in the electoral process. As if that were not enough to keep one up at night,  hackers of George Soros’s Open Society organization have revealed documents showing the radical billionaire, former Nazi collaborator, and bitter opponent of immigration reform is planning to increase the US electorate by 10,000,000 voters by 2018. Guess which way they might vote?

Troglo (L. H. Kevil)

 

 

 

 

 

Larry Sabato: Clinton will win in a blow-out

The University of Virginia Center for Politics published its projected electoral college map today. The projected score is Clinton 347, Trump 191. 270 votes wins. The electoral college map is here. The map is full of disturbing results: Missouri and Utah merely “lean Republican.” In a normal election cycle this would not be expected. It turns out there are no toss-up states. This polarization in favor of the Democrats is an ominous sign, an Unstern.

Is it over? According to Sabato: 90% of voters have already made up their mind. In the near term that percentage could be expected to increase.

For three straight campaigns the Republican party has nominated defective candidates, two who used the nominations to express their personalities, the election results be damned, and one who whose religion was schismatic , who was too liberal, and did not receive adequate analytics support from the Republican party.   

Troglo (L. H. Kevil)

Trump should act presidential

This presidential campaign is very similar to 2012’s. At the time Karl Rove said that any competent Republican could easily defeat Obama. There were a few problems, however, which made the prediction turn out false. The long Republican primary season gave the Obama team plenty of time to perfect their organization from 2008, using funds not spent in primaries. Their analytics were top-notch, with much help from Silicon Valley (some underhanded.) Romney eschewed analytics in favor of old-fashioned tactics; the Republican Project Orca was not beta tested properly and partially failed on election day. In addition, the Republicans nominated a candidate of moderate to liberal tendencies with known weaknesses. Romney’s religion, Mormonism, did not inspire confidence among many Americans. His support for RomneyCare in Massachusetts put him in a weak position vis-à-vis Obama. During the debates he did not assert himself sufficiently, against Obama or Candy Crowley. The media were of course all in for Obama.

This time the similarities are interesting. Again, any competent Republican should be able to wipe the floor with Miss Hillary, despite the media bias. The coronation of Miss Hillary was planned far in advance. While there was a primary struggle, the outcome was not long in doubt and the Democrats were able to keep some of their powder dry while building on Obama’s organization. Again the Republicans nominated a candidate with moderate to liberal tendencies, this time with staggering weaknesses. Trump’s positions change like a chameleon’s colors. While Romney pulled punches and ineffectively counterpunched, Trump is flailing wildly, rarely landing anything more than a glancing blow. His organization could hardly be said to be ineffective, since it scarcely exists. His blustering impetuosity and fatal inability to stay on message enables the Democrats to bait and manipulate him almost at will. He is wrong about trade and his touchback immigration policy with its “big beautiful door” for “the good ones” would amount to de facto amnesty. He is handling the election over to the Democrats and ruining the reputation and future prospects of the Republican party.

The primary virtue of a President is always to look out for the country’s interests first, to do the patriotic thing. To be presidential is to act this way. Most of us think Trump got in the race on a lark, knowing he would not get far, but in the process he would certainly build up his brand and help his businesses. But Trump and his family have consistently maintained that he is in the race for the sake of our country. Taking him at his word my opinion is that he should act presidential and withdraw his candidacy in favor of Mike Pence, who could then go on and easily defeat Miss Hillary.   

Troglo (L. H. Kevil)