All those kickbacks huh? If you can call a couple of cheap pens and an occasional medical informational lunch kickbacks. These cheap kickbacks will not change a physician's prescribing habits. The fact is that physician's change their prescribing habits based on hard fact clinical data results and patient results. They also look at the way a med works via the cellular processes in the body. If a physician has been prescribing a med for you for years that has a generic....and then a new med in the same med class comes out that has less toxic effects on the body, better patient outcomes based on patient feedback and lab results, and the reasons go on why it is a better medication....most physicians, in trying to do the best they can for you, will switch you to this med...as long as it is affordable to your situation. The days where physicians were taken out to a game of golf and such are long gone. Any kickbacks beyond a few cheap pens and cheap post-its are ILLEGAL. Most pharmaceutical reps give physicians and their office staffs lunches because they want the physician as well as the office nurses to understand the medication and to prescribe it correctly so that they don't make any unsafe mistakes regarding your care. We have lunches so that we don't need to take time out of their busy day, why? so that they can spend more time with their patients and not be distracted by us. We also have their attention for a few short minutes so that they can know how to safely prescribe this medication IF they CHOOSE to do so. Most physicians are reluctant to change their prescribing habits because what they are prescribing now is familiar to them. It takes real positive patient results after trying a few samples on patients, for a physician to even consider prescribing a new med. The real reason for rising medical costs.....MALPRACTICE ATTORNEYS and OUT OF CONTROL STATE MEDICAID and INDIGENT CARE. I agree with the previous poster...everyone should have at least a small copay (even $2), I bet healthcare costs would decrease considerably. I get mad when I have to pay for someone to go to the ER for a cough, and they call an ambulance because it's free (they don't have money for a taxi).

As a side note...There are plenty of herbal remedies that work real well for a lot of health problems. The benefits....you stay in control of what you take and you control the cost of what you will or will not buy. Many synthetic medications active ingredients are the same active ingredients in a lot of herbals. Garlic is great for cholesterol, Valerian Root is great for anxiety, and the list goes on and on.