Want to know if you really needed that brand name drug, or if the cheaper generic drugs were just as good? It’s easy as a Google search to find out if your doctor’s really concerned about that headache or has been prescribing unnecessary, even detrimental meds to you simply because he gets paid to do so. Open Payments Data is a website created by the government, as required by the “Sunshine Act”, that reveals to you the extent to which your personal care provider could be controlled by Big Pharma. From physicians to teaching hospitals, you can even identify which exact company is making payments to whom.
Something that actually benefits the little guy, this website is a major blow to corrupt doctors and forces them to avoid corporate sponsors where it is unnecessary. Doctors who work with pharmaceutical companies for legitimate reasons would face greater scrutiny as well, but it is likely that the database would provide sufficient information to clarify his/her relationship. Without anyone to push meds for them, and considering the savings they would make from not bribing doctors, big pharma will hopefully focus their profits on saving lives.
Of course, this piece of good news does not mean that we should lose sight of the Trans Pacific Partnership; That agreement alone would crush out generics and make doctor bribery pointless, seeing as few cheaper alternatives would be available in the first place (that’s only from what little information that has been leaked, who knows what other powers could be handed over to big pharma in this agreement that is secret to only the average person). Winning a battle is meaningless if one loses the war.
