TMAP Tragedy and Medicaid Fraud not all that important it seems

If we don't change the direction we're going, we're likely to end up where we're headed.

chinese proverb

The State of Texas recently settled a lawsuit with J&J that was ripe, good to go, all the ducks were in a row--know what I mean?  The suit was for $1 Billion then suddenly, it was settled for $158 million, a small fraction of that amount.   The corporate thugs are continuing to disable the populace on the taxpayers dime--with impunity; because in all reality, this amount is a drop in the bucket.


What I really want to know is why are WE the People allowing these modern day Robber Barons to rob ALL of us?!  This is no wild west spaghetti western sci fi!  These thugs are robbing ALL of us!  Texas was just the  proving ground for TMAP, the large-scale fraudulent psychiatric drug marketing agenda that spread to other states.  It was Texas that allowed these modern-day Robber Barons to incubate their illegal marketing agenda in the second most populous State in the Nation.  MY issue is how this New World Order marketing agenda was exported post-haste to Washington State, where I live and how it was crammed down my little boy's neck...


And then, I read this: via Health Care Renewal January 25, 2012:

Unequal Justice Under Law - Comparing Cases of Alleged Misbehavior by Large Health Care Organizations and Individuals

an excerpt:

On January 3, 2012, Bloomberg reported:

Two units of Actavis Group Hf will pay $84 million to settle a lawsuit over drug pricing, Texas officials said, less than half the amount an Austin jury said the company should pay.

The state accused Actavis Mid-Atlantic LLC and Actavis Elizabeth LLC, subsidiaries of the Iceland-based company’s U.S. division, ofinflating billings to the Texas Medicaid program by falsely reporting drug prices. The state court jury in February ordered the units to pay the state $170 million.

The settlement resolves that litigation, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said today in a statement.

Note that Medicaid is a joint federal-state insurance program for the poor. The company's statement had a familiar ring to it:

'Actavis denies any and all wrongdoing, and denies that it has any liability relating to the Texas judgment,' the company and the state said in the settlement agreement. The parties reached a settlement 'to avoid the delay, uncertainty, inconvenience and expense of continuing the litigation.'

Nothing to see here, just move along.  read here at Health Care Renewal

This settlement is more than the Attorney General of Texas settled with J&J for in the Risperdal illegal marketing case, which is less than 20% of what Texas should have collected.  Why would settlement with these thugs even be an option?  I am beginning to wonder if these lawsuits are just for show, e.g.  not actually meant to curtail the ongoing fraud and corruption---which is continuing unabated.  Are they being undertaken only to give the appearance of taking federal crimes committed by pharmaceutical companies seriously?  When it gets right down to it, the people who are being disabled and killed are not getting anything but screwed either way...