In an effort to spread
anti coronavirus vaccine messaging,
Candace Owens accidentally asked
a pretty good question about health
care in the United States.
She did so through a tweet, which
I'll share with you right now.
She wrote, quote, the COVID vaccine
saves lives, which is why
the government is making it free.
Now she's quoting people who make
that argument.
And her response to it is, K, so
explain to me why insulin and
asthma inhalers cost so much money.
If the vaccines are really about
the government trying to save your
life, why do
life saving medicines cost so much?
Well, that's actually a really
great question, Candace.
I mean,
she's a member of the media.
She's supposed to have some
obligation to be an informed
individual who then informs her
audience.
But of course that's not the case,
especially when it comes to
important bread and
butter issues like health care and
other commodified institutions in
the United States,
which really should be
thought of as a human right.
But just to say give her a short
one word answer, the reason is
capitalism, in both cases.
Capitalism is what fuels the
vaccine for coronavirus being free.
Capitalism also fuels this
disgusting, incredibly corrupt
health care system in America that
unfortunately doesn't really serve
the best interests of Americans.
So first let's start off with why
the coronavirus vaccine happens
to be free.
Is it because the American
government wants to do
the right thing and they want to
take care of their citizens?
And that's just it,
it's just all about morality and
doing the right thing?
No, there is a real financial
incentive in ensuring that
Americans get vaccinated and
the spread of coronavirus
either slows down or stops.
Because guess what, when you have
an incredibly contagious virus,
the so called human capital
that's necessary,
meaning the labor that gets
exploited by corporations to help
them earn revenue in turn profits.
Well, that's jeopardized, and
we can't have that.
In fact, we gotta do a little bit
of a rewind
to understand what I'm saying here.
So before I do that though, I think
this is a perfect opportunity to
take a little visit in The Bunker.
>> You didn't see Republicans when
we had control of the Senate tried
to rig the game >> Knows
how the green new deal would be
a deadly deal for
the United States of America.
>> Our systems are not racist.
[MUSIC]
>> The coronavirus vaccine is free
because of the chart that I'm about
to show you.
This is the chart showing what
happened to the stock market as
the coronavirus pandemic lead to
closures in the United States.
Of course, I'm talking about
business closures,
which hurt the bottom line for
corporations throughout
the country, with the exception of
course of corporations that
allow people to work from home.
Companies like Zoom, for
instance did incredibly well during
the pandemic, but
the stock market took a plunge,
took a massive plunge, okay?
They call them dumps, big dumps
as Donald Trump would say.
And so corporations
are freaking out.
They're like, man,
the closures are awful.
We need to slow the spread,
slow the spread.
And then once they realized you
can't slow the spread,
it's too hard.
Let's start urging lawmakers to
open businesses back up prematurely
and get people back to work.
And the conversations that were
taking place in early 2020,
in the beginning of this pandemic,
were just so transparent.
In fact,
people like Kevin Hauser were overt
in their rhetoric regarding labor,
and how corporations and the US
government really viewed workers.
Take a look.
>> Our capital stock hasn't been
destroyed.
Our human capital stock is ready to
get back to work.
And so that there are lots of
reasons to believe that we can get
going way faster than we have
in previous crises.
>> Our capital stock
is totally fine.
Our human capital is totally fine.
Let's get them back to work.
Now mind you,
this was early on in the pandemic,
there was no vaccine.
There was still a lack of clarity
regarding masks and
there was all sorts of
disinformation about the pandemic.
But you have Republican lawmakers,
members of Trump's administration
urging for Americans to prematurely
go back to work and put their lives
in danger in order to ensure that
the stock portfolios of the elites
in this country aren't harmed by
this global pandemic.
Now, that was followed by the way
with various governors,
right wing governors,
the lieutenant governor of Texas,
lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, of
course, urging even elderly people
to get back to work, which was
absolutely hideous and disgusting.
Now luckily, most states continued
with the shutdown.
Some states
did open prematurely like Texas and
Florida, for instance,
and there was a price to pay.
We have now over 600,000 Americans
who have died as a result of this
pandemic.
Now, why was the Trump
administration and now the Biden
administration doing whatever
it takes to develop a vaccine and
get as many people vaccinated as
possible?
Well, because they want people to
get back to work, guys.
And in order to get people back to
work, in order to incentivize
getting the vaccine,
you should make it free, right?
I mean, you don't want to provide
some sort of obstacle to
people getting vaccinated.
Now, let's get to the next video
because I think that's also
telling.
>> I'm also pleased to report today
that a vaccine candidate has begun,
the phase one clinical trial.
This is one of the fastest vaccine
development launches in history.
Not even close, we're also racing
to develop antiviral therapies and
other treatments and
we've had some promising results.
Early results, but promising to
reduce the severity and
the duration of the symptoms and I
have to say that our government is
prepared to do whatever it takes.
>> Our government is willing
to do whatever it takes.
Donald Trump didn't really care
about the well being of
the American people.
What he cared about was getting
a vaccine, making sure
that people get vaccinated, so
they get back to work.
That's what that's about.
Now, to the second part
of Candace Owens's question, right?
Why is the coronavirus
vaccine free?
Remember we're talking about
a contagious virus that has killed
hundreds of thousands of Americans,
while other medications
are not free.
And she mentions insulin,
diabetes and all that.
Well, diabetes is a big problem in
the United States, but
it's not part of a pandemic.
It's not a contagious virus.
And so when it comes to other
illnesses that Americans
are suffering from,
that's when capitalism also
plays a role in incentivizing price
gouging to ensure that the health
care industry and the private
pharmaceutical companies make as
much money as humanly possible,
off of the pain and
suffering of Americans.
And we see that happening over and
over again.
So why don't we take a quick
look at how much Americans pay for
pharmaceutical drugs
compared to other countries.
>> So get five of the top selling
prescription drugs in the world.
Advair, a brand name asthma
inhaler, more expensive in the US.
Lantus, a type of insulin,
more expensive in the US.
Sovaldi for hepatitis C,
yeah cost more in the US.
Humira for arthritis,
Crestor for cholesterol,
more expensive in the US.
So here's an unsurprising chart.
Americans spend more
on prescription drugs than
anyone else in the world.
>> Now, why is that?
Why do Americans spend so
much more on pharmaceutical drugs
than other developed countries?
I mean, I thought America was
number one, I thought we were
the best, I thought we had the best
economic model ever.
Capitalism reigned supreme, except
when it comes to commodifying
things that we need for survival,
maybe capitalism isn't such
a great idea.
In fact that Vox video continues on
to express why it is Americans end
up spending more on pharmaceutical
drugs compared to other countries.
>> In the UK, the government buys
the stock of medicine for
the country.
That means they're usually able to
get a lower rate,
kind of like a bulk discount,
which keeps prescription drugs
cheaper for UK citizens.
In almost every developed country
besides the US,
this is what the system looks like.
Safety evaluation, assessment of
whether the country needs it, price
negotiations sold to patients.
Now let's look at the system in
the United States.
First the drug is evaluated for
safety, but that's it.
If it's safe, they can sell it,
end of story.
Drugs are sold by the drug
companies to patients usually
through insurance.
And since the US system lets them
sell it for any price, Gilad,
the company that makes Ivaldi
charged Americans more for it.
When it first came to market,
the entire treatment cost $84,000
in the US.
In the UK,
just about 58,000 US dollars.
That's still a lot of money, but
it's a full 30% less.
>> Now there's an important caveat
to the figures that were just
shared in that video.
It doesn't take
into account health insurance,
which works very differently
in the United States versus the UK.
As we know, it's a privatized model
here in the United States,
with some exceptions for elderly or
disabled people.
Medicare is something that
luckily elderly Americans can
take advantage of.
But outside of that and
statewide Medicaid programs,
Americans unfortunately have to
resort to private insurers.
And what do private insurers want
more than anything?
To turn a profit.
It is a model that incentivizes
profit.
And that means cutting costs
to increase profits.
How do you cut costs?
You deny coverage for
things like pharmaceutical drugs or
coverage for
procedures that need to be done,
medical procedures of course.
The model in the UK is actually
very different and I would argue is
a far better model,
because the figures that were
shared in that video,
do not indicate what patients
in the UK actually have to pay out
of pocket for that particular drug.
At the center of the UK system,
sits the National Health Service
founded in 1948.
The NHS goes beyond single payer
health care into truly
socialized medicine.
The government doesn't just pay for
services.
It also runs hospitals and
employs doctors.
The system is financed through
taxes, everyone is covered and
supplemental insurance is rare.
Meaning that, the care that
individuals in the UK need is
free at the point of service.
While as in the United States,
Americans literally skip their
yearly physical or even seeing
a doctor when something ails them
because their are worried about
going bankrupt if it turns out that
they are actually very sick.
I mean, we live in a sick system.
And Candace Owens, to her credit
wants to learn about it.
So I'm glad that she's giving
me the opportunity to explain it to
her. Now, why is it that we
maintain this awful, awful system?
Especially when we've had proposals
from wonderful lawmakers like
Senator Bernie Sanders,
to switch us over to a single payer
health care system, which of course
gives us more power to negotiate
lower drug prices. Well,
we also have a system of legalized
bribery here in the United States.
And I want to just give you
a little taste, a little taste of
how much pharmaceutical companies
and private insurers lobbied
in recent years. So spending on
pharmaceutical industry lobbying
reached a record amount in 2020,
more than $306 million compared to
just $299 million in 2019.
There were 1,502 pharmaceutical
lobbyists in 2020, 63.58% of whom
were former government employees.
Because not only do we have
a system of legalized bribery, we
also have that revolving door where
lawmakers leave Washington to then
lobby for various corporations.
And they've got the connections,
they can hit up their former
colleagues in Congress and be like,
yo, let's defeat that bill.
Let's ensure that we don't have
a health care system in America
that actually works in the best
interests of the American people.
Now I'm not done yet.
As I mentioned, in the UK, they
have the National Health Service.
It's certainly much better than
what we have here in
the United States.
Now in 2016, the Commonwealth Fund
actually surveyed 11 high income
countries about cost related
barriers to care.
And Americans were actually
the most likely to skip needed care
because of costs, which 33% have
done so over the past year.
That's what they found
in this study.
They also found this, residents of
the United Kingdom were among the
least likely with only 7% saying
the same, The same was true notably
of dental care, which isn't covered
by private health insurance.
You have to buy dental care
separately in America.
32% of Americans said they skip
needed dental care services due
to cost, while only 11% of Britains
did the same.
By the way, we also happen to
spend a lot more for
the crappy healthcare model that we
get here in the United States
compared to the UK.
I mean, a huge argument is, well,
how are you going to pay for
a single payer health care system?
It sounds real expensive.
No, it's actually not the case.
That's a lot of propaganda and
misinformation.
In fact,
in 2016, health care spending
in the United States equaled more
than 17% of the country's GDP,
that's gross domestic product.
While the share of health spending
in Britain was only 9.7%.
It's pretty fascinating.
And what adds insult to injury,
Miss Owens, is the fact that
Americans are not only price gouged
by these pharmaceutical companies.
Americans pay more for
these pharmaceutical drugs than any
other developed country.
We also spend money on the research
and development of the very drugs
that then turn around and
we get price gouged on.
So AOC actually addressed this
during House Oversight Committee
hearing about two years ago because
she wanted to talk about R&D
spending, but also what these
pharmaceutical companies tend to
do with their profits.
Let's watch.
>> A lot has been made about
how much money has been spent on
research and development.
Between 2006 and
2015, about $465 billion was
invested research and development.
I think every dollar put into
research and
development of pharmaceuticals is
a good dollar spent.
But let me see, Mr.
Mitchell, are you familiar with
stock buybacks?
>> I know what they are.
>> And what is a stock buyback?
>> It's when a company decides
to purchase shares of its stock in
order to drive up its stock price.
>> So between those roughly
ten years, 465 billion was spent on
research and development.
The amount that pharmaceutical
spent on that same time to buy
their own stock for the sole
purpose of driving up the price,
was $516 billion.
So they spent more than
their entire budget on research and
development on a tactic to drive up
their own stock price.
>> And of course,
executive pay is tied to
the performance of the stock.
So if the stock does well,
the executives get paid more.
And that's part of the reason why
so much gets invested in buying
shares of the company's stock.
And when you want actual figures in
regard to how much Americans spend
in the research and
development of the drugs
that we need, but can't afford,
I want to give you those numbers.
A Center for Integration of Science
and Industry,
this study under underwritten by
the National Biomedical Research
Foundation map the relationship
between NIH-funded research and
every new drug approved by
the FDA between 2010 and 2016.
Here's what they found.
The authors found that each of the
210 medicines approved for market
came out of research supported by
the NIH, meaning the taxpayers.
Of the 100 billion it spent
nationally during this period,
more than half of it, 64 billion,
ended up helping the development of
84 first in class drugs.
So taxpayers fund research and
development for
these pharmaceutical drugs.
And then we can't afford them
because we have a model in America,
a capitalistic model that calls for
privatizing the gains,
meaning the profits,
and socializing the losses.
So there is socialism in America.
It's just corporate socialism.
It's socialism that takes
money from all the workers
who are already exploited and
it floats up to the top.
We redistribute that wealth all
the way to the top, to the very
people who don't need it.
Because if you need money, if
you're someone who's strapped for
liquidity and cash,
you're not going to be buying
shares of your own stock.
But pharmaceutical companies get to
do that, that's legal in America,
it used to be illegal.
And they're also able to charge
Americans whatever
the hell they want for these drugs.
So that's why this system is broken
Candace. Hopefully she watches
this video and
has a better understanding of how
capitalism really works.
My guess is, based on previous
statements that she's made,
that we're just not so smart,
I'll be generous.
She's probably not going to
absorb this information, but
hopefully anyone who questioned
this model and thought that we were
number one in health care in
the United States, maybe
you change your mind a little bit.
Maybe you read into it a little
more and understand that Americans
are needlessly dying because of
capitalism.
Americans get the vaccine for
free because of capitalism.
Because to corporations,
Americans workers are nothing more
than human capital to be exploited
to help them earn a profit.
That's it.
That's all it is.