I've never had to ask a doctor to prescribe a generic EVER. If there is a generic it just gets substituted by the pharmacist because that's how things actually work. If there is a generic, you don't really have to do anything.

Whether or not the pharmacist is allowed or required to substitute a generic varies by state (e.g. it's mandatory in NJ and unlawful in OK, and up to the policy of the pharmacy in FL; and in states like HI/KY/NC/SC/TN the legality varies by drug).

It also varies from case to case (in this case, while both are epinephrine pens they aren't AB substitutable according to the FDA, so even states that allow some substitution for brand-name medications wouldn't allow it here)

There's literally no reason for a doctor to prescribe by brand name unless they believe it's one of the few cases where a particular brand is actually more effective: If the doctor prescribes the generic drug name, then it doesn't matter where you get it filled. You can get whatever brand is cheapest. If the doctor prescribes by brand name, then you're at the mercy of the local laws and regulations of the place that you fill it as to whether you can substitute or not.

Fascism is only opportunistically anti-capitalist, which you would know if you studied its history in various places as well as over time. It flirted with socialism particularly in the early 20th century because that was seen by many as the wave of the future, but when it managed to gain power it purged, sidelines, or even outright murdered the socialists in its ranks.

Your view is very parochial in any case; social democracies like Sweden are much less like the fascist regimes of the early 20th Century than, say, Russia is under the United Russia party, which (surprise) is made up of former socialists who are now crony capitalists.

To be fair to them, there really aren't that many companies that want to do business with the US government and all the companies that do are probably equally as incompetent. So whether you hire this incompetent company to manage what should be some of the most secure assets in the country or another incompetent company, the outcome will most likely still be the same. It's not like there are any sort of... "laws," dictating their security, quality control or processes. Well, I guess there are, but it seems like the most profitable thing to do is ignore them and hope you don't get caught.

Fascism and socialism are entirely different in their nature. A fascist can a capitalist in the morning and a socialist in the afternoon as long as it suits his purpose.

It's the polar opposite of being doctrinaire; the doctrinaire extremist fits the occasion to the theory; the fascist fits the theory to the occasion.

Patents are enforced to protect innovation in research, not to protect price gouging on a generic drug in a particular form factor. Capitalism in concept is about minimizing the lost value from unmet demand and wasted supply (not everything can be salvaged). Additions onto that are political and ideological not practical. In fact the actions of Mylan are opposed to capitalism as they are setting overly high prices on a captive market (Medicaid recipients)

1. Medicare, not Medicaid
2. Why is Medicare a captive market? Why don't they just buy one of the cheaper alternative ephinephrine autoinjectors (like Adrenaclick) instead of EpiPen?

That list of problems with competitors fails to mention Impax's Adrenaclick, which has been FDA approved and sold in the US market freely since 2010; it's widely available (it's sold at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, Target, etc) and much cheaper than EpiPen.

The fact that Mylan can charge these prices is government regulations and government-granted monopolies.

It's more dumb consumers and good marketing. There are cheaper alternatives like Adrenaclick available if you ask for a generic epinephrine auto-injector rather asking for Epipen by brand-name. See, e.g, Consumer Reports http://www.consumerreports.org...

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a low-cost alternative to the EpiPen, we recently recommended generic Adrenaclick, also referred to as an "epinephrine auto-injector."...In most states, to get the low-cost, EpiPen alternative, you can't use a prescription for "EpiPen" from your doctor. That's because pharmacists at your drugstore likely won't be able to automatically substitute the low-cost version if your prescription is written for EpiPen. Instead, ask your doctor to write a prescription for an "epinephrine auto-injector" or "generic Adrenaclick."

And if that's true - that Medicare was already applying the âoenon-innovator multiple sourceâ rebate schedule to the EpiPen back in 2007 - then that makes this case a lot murkier. The Feds would then have to make a case as to why the drug can and should be reclassified at the higher âoesingle sourceâ tier. It's clear that in practice the EpiPen is a single source device

Is it clear? There are other options out there (e.g. Adrenaclick), if you get your doctor to prescribe an "epinephrine autoinjector" instead of specifying "Epipen" by brand name. How different is that from other drugs? If you get a prescription for, say, Lipitor, can you fill that with a generic? Or can you only do that if you get a prescription for atorvastatin rather than the brand-name?

http://www.consumerreports.org...

The drug, epinephrine, is generic. It is adrenaline, which your body produces naturally. There is no patent stopping generic injectors, but so far none have been approved by the FDA.

Yes, they have. Adrenaclick's been on the market (with FDA approval) for 5+ years, and costs like 1/4 what Epipen does.

http://www.consumerreports.org...

Charisma has everything to do with it, and policy nothing to do with it. An authoritarian leader can contradict himself on policy and his followers won't care.

could also eliminate the need for medicines like viagra.

Authoritarian leaders are not the least consistent about policy. That's why scholars have had so much trouble characterizing fascism as an ideology, because it's not an ideology. It's a disease of ideology; it's politics rotting from the head down, like a fish.

Because authoritarians follow charismatic leaders...

Just saying repeating what someone else says doesn't make it true, no matter where you claim your loyalties lie (or in this case loyalties you disclaim).

I am doubly sorry to hear that.

Well, if you've ever been an expert at something, you no doubt use certain words in ways that confuse non-experts, because you have need of more precision than they do.

I have no idea what the technical epidemiological standard is for being something- "free", but it can't be the utter absence of that something (which is the non-specialist's definition) because you can't prove a negative. So there must be some criteria short of absence.