Will Tylenol alleviate severe pain? It will not, yet patients are routinely given the drug after major surgery. Thank your congressman for such insanity. Meanwhile, the drug store conglomerate CVS displays real pain relievers right next to useless homeopathic "remedies." A lawsuit could put an end to that dubious marketing practice.
CVS
Trip report: Josh goes into a Manhattan CVS to buy some Tylenol and is horrified by generic drug discrimination. Then he steals a piano.
I've written numerous times that when it comes to supplements, you can throw both common sense and science out the window. Up is up and so is down. Somehow, I’ve been laboring under the notion that I don't really have much else to write about this topic. That was until a leisurely stroll up and down the aisles of a CVS store. And an existential thought experiment at no extra cost.
CVS's HealthHubs seek to replace the neighborhood physician with their supersized drug store. Is it about the Benjamins ($) or improving health outcomes? Their latest earnings call suggests it is about revenue.
CVS just sent out a mass email patting itself on the back because the pharmacy chain no longer sells cigarettes. That's fine and good. But here's some of the other junk they sell.
While the federal courts weigh whether CVS-Aetna's merger is anti-competitive, in terms of drug pricing, they are seemingly ignoring CVS's new HealthHubs. A product of the data synergy of a pharmacy and health insurer, those hubs will disrupt healthcare in ways that will shift profits to themselves and costs to society at large. Just they way Big Tobacco or Big Oil did.
CVS has also clinched the "Man, do we look like idiots" pennant well before the All Star Break. In a move straight out of "Dumb and Dumber," the company was caught selling a homeopathic (read: useless) cure for constipation that was water (the usual ingredient for all things homeopathic) plus alcohol! How much? As much as a shot of bourbon. If this doesn't highlight the absurdity of this issue, then all is lost.