January 31, 2025 by Laurianne Macdonald, B.Sc., MPH, CHt, and Licensed RTT Practitioner
Over the last 50 years, the United States prescription drug expenditure saw triple digit increases: $2.7 billion in 1960 to an estimated $463.6 billion in 2024. Crazy, I know. But let us break it down into chewable bites. The 67% increase in the 30 years between 1960 and 1990 aligned with general inflation and an increased reliance on pharmaceuticals. It did not forewarn the crisis to come.
In the following I will discuss how and why the expenditures between 1990 and 2000 more than tripled, what caused the 100% increases over both of the last two decades, and why the last four years, alone, should send shivers down your spine. More importantly, I will prove to you the reasons are far scarier than the big orange man with a pen.
- 1960: Prescription drug expenditure was $2.7 billion.
- 1990: Expenditures increased to $40.3 billion.
- 2000:They rose to $122 billion.
- 2010: They more than doubled, reaching $253.4 billion.
- 2020: It was $350.6 billion.
- 2024: The expenditure was $463.6 billion.
But let’s face it, Statista.com leaves some very vital tidbits of information out. So I will fill in the blanks to help you see the big picture.
Throughout history, healthcare has always been a concern for leaders, policymakers and peoples everywhere. As for the United States, during colonization and the establishment of trade routes, President John Adams saw the need and enacted the first health care policy: The 1798 Relief Plan For Sick And Disabled Seamen.
Since then we have seen many bills and policies and benefits come and go. A few examples include The Bill For The Benefit Of The Indigent Insane which passed both house and senate but died on President Pierce’s desk. The establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau after the civil war, the introduction of Social Security during the depression, The National Mental Health Act after two world wars, and Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 were all good doings after hard times.
For the most part, the policies and our politicians were careful to consider and maintain the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the constitution. The failures of universal or socialized healthcare systems in other countries remained a bleak reminder of where we did not want to go when it came to taking care of our citizens. But many factors contribute to the challenge of providing quality healthcare to billions of people.
We will start with the industrial age: An explosion of machine manufacturing and the American Building Boom were fertile ground for workplace injuries, a disabled workforce, and lawsuits. A real problem for our growing country. Profiteering corporations like Kaiser Permanente saw their chance to cash in on both sides of the same coin. By 1930 the insurance consortium beguiled the public, politicians, and corporate America with promises of financial protection and quality care for employees during the crisis.
‘Insurance’ quickly became the hottest commodity. It was an easy sell. Who wouldn’t want to feel protected when faced with a health emergency, accidental injury, or death. And with premium payments coming in from doctors, hospitals, and individual to cover every one claim, profits rocketed faster than Captain America.
The business model was the stuff of any CEO’s wet dream. And the industry quickly became every politician’s darling.
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the property casualty insurance industry reported a bottom line of $88 billion for 2024. Life insurance profits increased to $15.7 billion. US health insurance companies, with a whopping 10.4% growth rate between 2023 and 2024 alone, boasted $1.07 trillion in revenue.
That is just the petits four atop an enormous trillion dollar tasty guaranteeing the insurance industry a say about who, what, when, and how much at every policy making table. But back to the history lesson.
1950 began with the “golden era” of a chemical revolution in pharmaceuticals; psychopharmacology. Big-pharma came on scene in a big way. It and the insurance industry were soul mates right from the start. By 1960 they sired a pill popping public health pestilence that grew ferocious and feriously fast.
Thirty years later the American Healthcare System had less to do with healthy Americans and more to do with profits and power. Lord Acton admonished, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The failing system became a standard political platform in the early 90s. The stuff of puffy but suscept campaign promises starting with “Hillary Care” as part of the Clinton’s Healthcare Initiative in 1993.
An op-ed in The Washington Post, University of Virginia Professor Martha Derthick critiqued the plan:.
“In many years of studying American social policy, I have never read an official document that seemed so suffused with coercion and political naivete… with its drastic prescriptions for controlling the conduct of state governments, employers, drug manufacturers, doctors, hospitals and you and me-“
Rightly so, Hillary’s health care reform plan never passed muster. There was clearly still some common sense wandering the halls of the senate back then.
Over the next several years the issue of rising healthcare costs became a problem with three times the velocity and magnitude of any other. Or so it would seem. Historians agree, the Hillary Care controversy chummed a get-it-while-you-can frenzy with the industry sharks. That fact is blatantly clear given the statistics above.
However, it takes those with a cooler head and keener sight to see all that splashing, teeth gnashing, and blood spilling as the false-flag it was. Hilary had successfully planted the seed of socialism in every dem and each of her sycophant’s heads, proving she was not the novice Derthick portended.
Then, after a brief interlude with a president kept too busy with revenge wars to deal with problems at home, Obama marched in like the messiah himself. He promised to save us all. He had everyone convinced the crater that was our healthcare system’s failures was the republican’s fault.
I’ll skip over how chummy Hillary and he were. (Pun intended) I do have to mention that his plan was even more coercive and controlling than hers. Biding time dug side by side graves for freedom and democracy while he solidified the dark-money laundromat that funded the DNC with promises to protect insurance and big-pharma.
He rose from behind empty desks in the senate to take hold of the blind, sleepwalkers, and bottom feeders, like a python squeezing until they woke to the realization there was a new king. They had to honor him if they wanted to stay in the garden. So, “Obama Care” passed with a democrat majority.
Like any good evil-doing does… it dug in quick and became habitual. Nobody wanted to leave the table; give up their handouts, campaign donations, or stock options.
Voilà. Socialism suddenly didn’t sound so bad.
The unconstitutional two thousand plus page document of lengthy legalese, which no civilian, seated senator, or presiding SCOTUS judge did, will or would ever read from beginning to end, (Kind of like the Bible these days), is just the cherry atop one absurdly obese problem.
If for no other reason, the PPACA should have been repealed under the precedent of cruel and unusual punishment.
To be completely fair, I can only assume SCOTUS didn’t read it because they still possess the strongest arm of our democracy. But they didn’t do what was right. Even without reading it they should have seen it for what it is: A monolithic wall of regulations, mandates, and edicts which should never have made it past our gatekeepers.
It disregards basic human dignity. The mere breadth and length divorces the majority of souls from understanding how their autonomy and God given rights toward prosperity have been zapped like mosquitos at a blue light. Oh, except for the right to kill babies at abortion clinics.
The tyrannical epic has since become a vampire sucking whatever life was left in existing public health policies and patient rights.
The only benefactors to Obama Care are the insolvent and indigent, insurance and big-pharma, and the politicians still sitting at the table eating sweet dreams of socialism while reaping record dividends on stock options. The numbers above are just some that polish the enormous knob fucking we the people.
Please excuse my language. If you are still reading, my disdain for hypocrisy certainly rivals yours. And I will thank you for liking and sharing this article with as many people as possible.
So now back to the diabolical.
According to the American Public Health Association, “The U.S. spends more on health care but has worse health outcomes than comparable countries around the globe. This holds true across age and income groups.” From the same mouth came accusations that the January 27th order to put a freeze on federal grants and funding of nonprofits and NGOs was a bad thing.
Diane Yentel, Chief Executive of the National Council of Nonprofits said “- reckless action by the administration would be catastrophic for nonprofit organizations and the people and communities they serve.”
Let’s just take a moment to acknowledge who and what is being served by some of these “do-gooders”. Try not to let vague language and laudation fool you.
Plan International (PI): A humanitarian and development provider focused on children’s rights in gender equality, quality education, protection from violence, sexual and reproductive health, emergencies, and youth empowerment.
HMMMMM?
Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI): Founded in 2002, after Hillary Care missed its mark, supposedly aids in increasing access to necessary medical services and prescription drugs in low resource areas.
As Tantor once said, “-looks questionable to me.”
Novo Nordisk Foundation | World Economic Forum, the largest NGO accepting U.S. federal money is said to be focused on global medical treatment and research. Worth $167 billion, this Danish foundation provides a stable basis for commercial research conducted by companies within the group and that support their humanitarian and scientific objectives.
Ain’t nothin’ to see there.
Be forewarned, but the complete list of NGOs can be accessed at https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/cosp/list-of-non-governmental-organization-accredited-to-the-conference-of-states
A complete list of 501(c)(3)s receiving federal funds is not feasible because of the vast number and complicated network involved in the cash flow and funding opportunities. Such murky waters would dictate a complete halt, if not full throttled reverse, before we sink like the titanic.
And we have not even discussed how many of these 501(c)3 and (4)s accept dark money donations? Dark money refers to funds donated to nonprofits and NGOs that influence elections and policy making without having to disclose donor identities.
Both types of organizations are allowed to receive unlimited donations from corporations, individuals, and unions while taking handouts, grants, and awards from the federal government. Presented as social welfare programs, they are usually highlighted on every virtue signaling senator’s resume if not invited to every campaign fundraiser.
So, to anyone with 2 cents of common sense, the president’s freeze on the flow of federal funds was more like a skilled EMT dutifully stopping the bleeding before assessing the patient.
Trump’s order did not stop funds to Social Security or Medicare, or any other payment to proven effective programs providing direct care to individuals in need. So put down your pitchforks and torches.
The freeze in place order was meant to effectively plunge a steak through the heart of a vampire sucking the life out of an already anemic public health and healthcare system. A stake that would not harm the ethical, righteous, or justified. Just give everyone a moment to catch their breath.
Federal funding for nonprofits or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is typically provided through grants and awards for specific and definable purposes. Generally such align with the will of the people. This particular monster has clearly lost its way.
The momentous task of figuring out what lies beneath all the do-gooding façade will take time. Trump did not want the people to pay for another dem debacle.
But once again, the legacy media stepped between us and the truth.
Now the news is all about Trump. Meanwhile, behind the curtain the Covid-19 coverup and Obama saying, “effective immediately, the U.S. Government (USG) will pause new USG funding for gain-of-function research on influenza, MERS or SARS viruses” lands in the poppy fields of OZ.
And just so you know, the NIH, yes one of those mysterious money making marvels I was just talking about, continued to receive grants and federal funding, all of which Fauci was given carte blanche.
The truth is, Trump’s initial attempt to lower drug prices and stop corporate interference with personal choice in healthcare options was apparent in his efforts to repeal the PPACA and install the American Patients First Act, during his first term.
Unfortunately such was akin the Dutch Boy and the Dyke. He understood the deluge coming: Anyone with half a brain and corporate finance experience could. His intentions were honorable. Saving the people by protecting the structure that is Medicare and Medicaid against the inevitable failures of the PPACA was all he could do given the goliath of corruption he was up against.
In 2016 and a newcomer to politics, Trump’s unawares showed early on. Still he did what he could to keep his campaign promise to reduce the cost of healthcare. Not only did he have to deal with a den of thieves robbing him of every bipartisan vote, six out of the top ten major lobbies where not going to go quietly into the good night: AT&T, the AMA, The Business Round Table, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, AHA, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America.
That does not even take into consideration George Soros and his Open Society Policy Center. As the third largest lobby, it derailed Trump’s efforts to keep America from washing away in a flood of radical elite ideology, social anarchy, and its corrupt leaders making millions on inside trading.
Then Covid-19 was unleashed.
From there you should know the rest. Biden’s last ditch effort to make the dems look, well, less horrifying, was just a ruse. The numbers do not lie. The Biden administration’s healthcare EOs and policies only reinforce the PPACA, making it even more difficult for America to pull the weeds of socialism that have now been firmly established.
America’s healthcare system is the worst in the world. And none of it was or is Trumps fault.
References & Research
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamasdeal/
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/06/costly-battle-obamacare-over/
https://www.npr.org/2010/03/18/124807720/did-blue-cross-mission-stray-when-plans-became-for-profit
https://www.aha.org/topics/affordable-care-act
https://largest.org/people/lobbying-groups/
https://truthovernews.org/p/obama-fauci-and-the-making-of-a-pandemic
https://www.weforum.org/organizations/novo-nordisk-foundation/
Healthy Living 