Opinion – TV advertising of prescription drugs should be banned

This is a topic that I don’t usually write about here but it’s something that’s been bugging me and I wanted to get it off my chest.

I get irritated every time I see a TV ad for a prescription drug. Why? Because the cost of that ad is being added to the already high cost of our prescription drugs.

Why do drugmakers advertise directly to consumers (DTC) anyway? Shouldn’t our doctor be the one prescribing the drugs we need? I’m confident that they can without the help of a TV ad.

According to a FierceFarma article drugmakers spent $3.73 billion dollars on TV ads in 2018. Leading the way was AbbVie’s Humira at $375 million with Pfizer’s Lyrica at $213 million in second place.

In my opinion, drugmakers should be banned from doing DTC advertising. Why? Because we consumers are paying for the cost of that advertising in the cost of our prescription drugs.

In fact, in 2015 the “AMA voted in support of a DTC advertising ban because of concern among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices“. Another interesting point. The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

According to a New York Times article “The Trump administration for the first time will require pharmaceutical companies to include the price of prescription drugs in television advertisements if the cost exceeds $35 per month. The move, announced on Wednesday by Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, is the most visible action the administration has taken so far to address the rising cost of prescription drugs. It has been a key issue for American voters and one that both Republicans and Democrats have vowed to address.”

This is a start but more is needed.

Step count in the Health app not matching the step count in the Activity app

I have a goal of 10,000 steps every day. I’ve been doing this ever since I quit bike racing back in 2011. Before my Apple Watch, I tracked my steps with my Garmin Forerunner 35 and the Garmin Connect iOS app. Now I’m tracking my steps on my Apple Watch and the Activity and Health apps.

One thing that I noticed was that my step count in the Activity app was different than the step count in the Health app. Curious, I set out to see why this was happening. By the way, I noticed that a lot of folks were wondering the same thing.

Here’s how I fixed this issue. The answer is in this Apple Support article Manage Health data on your iPhone, iPod touch, or Apple Watch. The answer is in the Prioritize data sources section of the article.

Prioritize data sources

Here’s how to choose the sources that Health uses first:

  1. Open the Health app and tap the Health Data tab.
  2. Tap a category, like Activity.
  3. Tap a data type, like Steps.
  4. Tap Data Sources & Access, then tap Edit.
  5. Touch and hold next to a data source, then drag it up or down in the list.
  6. To turn off a data source so that it doesn’t contribute any more data for that category, tap the checkmark next to the source.
  7. Tap Done.

If multiple sources contribute the same data type, then the data source at the top will take priority over other sources. Any new apps or devices that you add go to the top of the list automatically, above your iPhone or iPod touch.

Once I moved my Apple Watch to the top of the list my steps in the Health app matched my steps in Activity app.

Why I now have an Apple Watch Series 4

I’ve been wearing a sports activity watch for several years. My main use case is to track my runs and to make sure that I meet my personal goal of 10,000 steps per day. I’ve been doing this with a Garmin Forerunner 35 and the Garmin Connect iOS app.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were in our local Apple Store to have the contents on her old MacBook Pro migrated to her new MacBook Air. While we were there I spent a few minutes checking out the new Series 4 Apple Watch.

I was interested in the Apple Watch because I had just read Joe Cieplinski article about the Apple Watch detecting an irregular heartbeat. If I’m not mistaken he discovered that he had A-Fib using the ECG feature. Then within a few days, Stephen Hackett on Connected Episode 238 talked about a fall he had taken on his bike and how the Apple Watch Fall Detection worked. Now, these are both areas that are of interest to me. I have a history of heart problems and as I’ve gotten older I find that I’m more prone to losing my balance and possibly taking a tumble.

The heart features of the Apple Watch and Fall Detection are why I now own one. Because the Apple Watch also has wonderful activity tracking I now use it to also track my runs and step count. So, what did I do with my Forerunner 35? I gave it to my wife since her Fitbit was about to die.

Marked 2 update includes improved Bear integration

Brett Terpstra released a nice upgrade to Marked 2 yesterday with some improvements for Bear integration. I purchased my copy of Marked a couple of years ago through the App Store. To preview what I was writing in Bear in Marked was a bit tricky. I always wondered why. In fact, it took me a while to figure out how to do it. Well, Brett answers why it was tricky.

Before I start talking too much about Bear, there’s one issue to note. Bear writes its preview files out to a system temp folder that Marked can’t permanently access from the sandboxed Mac App Store version, so users are constantly asked for permission. If you’re using Bear with the Mac App Store version of Marked, I offer a free crossgrade to the unsandboxed direct version. If you use the Help->_Report an Issue_ feature and just send me the top part of the report section (above the ---), I’ll consider that enough proof to provide you with a license. You can also contact me through the support forum.

I took Brett up on his offer for the crossgrade to the unsandboxed version Marked. Now viewing what I’m writing in Bear in Marked works as it does in my other apps.

If you’re using the App Store version of Marked I suggest you also take Brett up on his offer. You’ll be glad you did especially if you use Bear.

You’ll want to delete the App Store version of Marked and then install the unsandboxed version.

 

App Update issue in the Mojave Mac App Store

There’s a Mac and iOS app update for Bear out today. I ran the update on my iPhone, iPad and iMac without a hitch. On my MacBook, the update wasn’t showing up in the Mac App Store Updates section on my MacBook. I knew it was available because as I already said I had run the update on my iMac.

In the old App Store, when you went to the Updates tab it would automatically look for all new updates. In the new App Store it appears to not do the same. Anyway, I closed the App Store and relaunched it, went to the Updates section and the Bear update still wasn’t there.

If this ever happens to you there’s a way to force the page to reload. Here’s what you do. Open the App Store > Updates > Store in the Menu Bar > click on Reload Page. After doing that my Bear update showed up.

Brett Terpstra and nvUltra

It sounds like the successor to nvALT is finally on its way. According to Brett, it is codenamed nvUltra. The final name to be determined later.

You can sign up for the email list, and get notifications and beta access as it comes out by signing at the bottom of Brett’s post over on his website.

Codename: nvUltra – BrettTerpstra.com

You’ve been hearing from me for years about BitWriter, the nvALT replacement I was working on with David Halter. Well, I failed at my part, then we lost touch, and it never came to fruition. Now that my health is back to working state, I attempted to pick the project back up. Turned out David was MIA (hopefully ok), and the code I was left with no longer compiled on the latest operating systems. Seemed like it might be time to let go.

Then I heard from Fletcher Penney. You know, the guy who created MultiMarkdown, and who develops my favorite Markdown editor, MultiMarkdown Composer. He was working on a similar project and invited me to join him on it. Now we have an app nearing beta stage that’s better than any modal notes app you’ve used. Code name: nvUltra.

​

Apple Now Providing Free Data Migration for Mac

Apple is now offering data migration services for free when you purchase a new Mac or need to have a Mac replaced or repaired. Until now data migration was $99.

Tidbits heard about the policy change from a reader and confirmed the change with an Apple Store Operations Specialist.

Beginning April 2, there will be no cost for Data Migrations with the purchase of a new Mac or Data Transfers with a repair.