$148.14 and then i got the 2nd bill and january 30th and that one was 412039 dollars and 89 cents total member responsibility and here's another 3 weeks later 3 weeks later here we are on their bill for $12.00 ours is your responsibility yeah this must been terrifying though while you're fighting. cancer in a period of 6 weeks you get 3 bills for the one drug that may extend your life and it's looking like it's going to be you know over $12000.00 a month. i can honestly tell you that when i was diagnosed you know there are some tears there but i cried hard more when these bills came along i've spent so much more emotional energy on finding ways to fund my treatment than i ever have my cancer. at 1st jackie's insurance didn't cover revlimid has been saying well we can do this i'll sell my truck you know one of that old battle

give us the money but i'm going to be on this indefinitely this is not a solution we need a longer term solution and we're not going to be paying this out of pocket it will be bankrupt before you know it and then what. so jackie spent up to 50 hours a week at times cobbling together a plan to bring down her cost this is my part d. this is my supplemental policy these are different and you know when i was involved in marketplace insurance if you want to live in this is the amount of paperwork required oh yeah it's pretty complicated i've been lucky i've been ahead of the game i've been able to navigate pretty effectively through the system others are not. just trying to wrap my head around how you can afford this drug you have multiple insurance plans you're on medicare you have found a loophole in the new state law that's helped you your disability and your disco program with all of that what do you how much that cost you or you're still in any

given year it's anywhere from $15.00 to $22000.00 for me out of pocket $15.00 to $22000.00 a year that's after insurance that's out of your that's out of your pocket out of my pocket. one of the most effective ways to bring down the cost of medicine for people like jackie is to have more fordable generic options on the market. but experts say that major pharmaceutical companies use a complex web of strategies to block generic competition. so they can maintain control of the truck's price and protect a monopoly. a company that has a monopoly goes to its potential competition and says hey we've got a better deal for both of us we'll give you x. dollars to just keep your product off the market. so the patent holder benefits from getting preserve their monopoly and their monopoly pricing. the generic firm

benefits by getting an insured payday and the public loses because we don't get more affordable medicine through competition this strategy the truck companies use to keep competitors out of the market is legal. and it's not the only one. the way the farms and companies today use the patent system they stack of hundreds of patents on a particular drug so they basically get as low as they can out of the protective protection in order to prevent competition coming in and we all know what is competition comes in prices drop how does the patent process affect a drug like rebel a bit i think there are some $107.00 patents on this drug for passing off occasions in the 1st 70 of granted and that prevents anybody from coming in if i'm a generic competitor i have to mitigate my way through all these to get into the marketplace and so delays so instead of coming to market maybe you know next you have to wait 23 years because of the way the regulatory system works in terms of you have to end the litigation for you can get approval for your genetic. industry

experts told us that strategies like these have slipped back to her competition on prescription drugs by years. celgene which mean you back church revlimid did not respond to a list of questions we sent them. i'm all for making a healthy profit and protecting intellectual property for a period of time but they've abused that it doesn't matter how many great new innovations there are a great new drugs there are that are going to keep people alive you can for them drugs don't work if if we can't afford to take and. this is a total rip off. and we are ending. we will work every day to insure all americans have access to the quality affordable medication. they need and they deserve and we will not rest until this. of unfair pricing is

a total victory for the us a. president promised to make the high cost of prescription drugs a top policy priority. he's talked about bringing down the cost of some drugs in line with their prices in other countries. but experts we spoke to say his proposals don't address the root of the problem. the drug companies monopoly power which according to a survey by more than 70 percent of americans want to rein it. in you look at the polling with the people you say there's political will at the electorate level for radical change on this issue. but there's a disconnect between the political will of the people and that actual political will and congress. lies or disconnect their money. the industry has extreme lobbying power about 3 lobbyists for every member of congress and spends a great deal on elections on supporting candidates in the united states. when

the pharmaceutical industry says we need more incentives to conduct a certain line of research and no one wants to stand in the way of that so the legal climate continues to favor the industry more and more which means they can abuse all of us in the form of price with unchecked power. federal filings show that pharma the group that represents most of the us is largest drug manufacturers spend about $27.00 and a half $1000000.00 on lobbying in 2018. when they're asked about the high cost of prescription drugs the pharmaceutical industry often makes this argument. lowering drug prices which type of research and development and impact the creation of new lifesaving drugs this is obviously extremely important to sustain a wave of innovation that patrick o'brian who works for pro-business lobbying group

is sympathetic to this view patient's own this is in new ways i've talked to so many people in this industry that says there's an entire set of strategies for extending patents that drug companies are using well this is all there you see this is all part of a. process of attempting to stigmatize an industry that. has delivered tremendous value to people everywhere and is unfortunate is part of a bigger at those the state can hold that big business is bad but you have americans flooding over the border to buy prescription drugs in canada but how do you explain that to wrap your head around that say yep this is this is a system that we were well you could say that other countries are getting away with murder and i wouldn't disagree that they are not paying their fair share for the overall system the political situation in those countries has created a situation where the manufacturers have no pricing power this is them that we have

works pretty well to create the right incentive for investment and also to allow following innovation and if you know the high prices on the front under part of that well that's part of the process in a free market a producer has the rights at their price. buyers can take it or leave it but if there's only one drug to treat your illness and that company is the only one that makes and sells that drug there is no market of choice and you have to take that drug or die i don't think it's any given company's fault that there's a lack of competition you know the fact is that if someone else can figure out a better way to do that they could knock. medicine off the market in no time along fact we see that all the time. the only counterargument you can make is that prices should be high in order to fund innovation but there's no limit to that argument i mean under under that logic companies can literally charge anything they want and

it would always be a good deal for the public which is what's happening and it's not a good deal for the public. medical innovation is expensive and we need to pay for it that doesn't mean prices should be whatever the companies want them to be which is the current regime. we made multiple interview requests to the top 3 insulin manufacturers see if we get a referee literally on the phone. but none of them agreed to an interview. to get someone from your distorted. all right so would. you know if you seen a fee responded with a statement explaining the various discount programs they offer to patients and encourage them to call the company's hotline for information. we decided to approach someone else who might know more. secretary alex a czar has been the face of the trump administration's truck price policy. but he has another connection to the us. americans one in the survey says all of the home

here is 18 he was a top executive at insulin manufacturer eli lilly and during this time there the price of the company's best selling insulin more than doubled. we wanted to ask him why secretaries are. we sent you one question about description prices insulin doubled when you were president that he will usa. why did you do something about it been. one of the. sectors i know you can hear me i know that you when you're president it will usa insulin prices double why don't you do something about it that. the. president from said pharmacy companies are getting away with murder was he referring to companies like you would present itself. it's corruption and it's legal companies are free to do most of what we're talking about here today they can pay to delay their

competition they can extend monopolies for years or even decades they can spike prices by 5000 percent if they want to making medicines affordable is not a question of cracking down on illegal behavior it's a question of cracking down on legalized corruption in the system that we have created. alice death is not an isolated situation since alec has passed away i have been in contact with at least 10 other families who had recently lost one of their loved ones from the same thing and ironically half of them are 26 year old. firm is it a company is need to lower the list prices people are dying and the only way to stop that from happening is to make the products affordable. so our rate fixed sounds like jackie is now 4 years into

a 5 year prognosis with the help of revlimid. but to make it this far she and her husband it had to train their savings and some of the money that set aside for retirement. they're now selling pieces of their life on line like furniture and dishes they were given for their wedding. my husband and i both have been incredibly careful people. very conservative with our money. we were the kind of people that whatever the maximum was that we could put away for retirement we did all that interest posed to do we did all the things we're supposed to do absolutely you know we generally had anywhere from $40.00 to $50000.00 in the bank just as a safety net that's gone. that's long gone. we're not going to be that 75 year old couple with the 50 year anniversary party it's it's it's not really in the cards for us and we've dealt with that but i don't

want to leave him completely broken and completely bankrupt at the same time and. unless something changes. that's likely to be the case. unless i decide. to no longer seek treatment you're literally saying that you have to make a financial trail i will on how long to live i will there will be a tipping point and i will have to make a decision as to when to stop treatment and choose to die. so that i can leave my husband with enough so that he can he can make it through the next you know 30 years of his life that's what's at stake for me. jail you're at the mercy of the state but in the land of the free shareholders have

a stake it is this profit motive that continues to interfere with adequate health care being provided to people who are detained incarcerated across the country salt lines investigates how the outsourcing of health care in american jails is impacting the lives and deaths of those behind bars sick inside. for the last 2 years these students have been collecting rubbish every day it's helped clean up the campus and helped build some of its facilities for every 2 kilo's of plastic waste they collect this school receives a brick made of plastic and cement. for some activists this may not be the most ecological way to eliminate the problems of plastic but this is seen as an immediate solution to the growing problems of landfills across the country waste

can now be used to manufacture building materials. is a popular filming location in france when it comes to stories about drugs crime and radicalization tired of negative stereotypes youth worker it's nanny is reclaiming its image by putting its young resident behind the camera. this truth be don't often hear told by the people who the. news would this is europe on al-jazeera. where every.

the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. the u.s. democrats gear up for a public phase of the impeachment process into donald trump. wants a woman you're watching al-jazeera like my headquarters in doha coming up in the next 30 minutes almost inaccessible wipes groups criticize a new asylum law in greece. also houses in the line of fire thousands more people are forced from their homes in the u.s. state of california. the hunt for murders in colombia we follow the fight to bring killers of the digits leaders to justice. welcome to the program donald trump is facing months of scrutiny

a year out from what he hopes to be reelected as president he calls it the greatest witch hunt in u.s. history but democrats have determined the impeachment inquiry is needed in accusations the president pressured ukraine to investigate political rival joe biden hired to castro has more from washington d.c. . and historic words from the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives we gather here on that opening day with their families gathered around. to proudly raise our hand to protect and defend the constitution of the united states as congress took the 1st vote in the impeachment inquiry of president donald trump the measure which authorizes the inquiry to enter a public phase passed 232 to 1962 democrats joined a unanimous republican caucus in voting no those in favor please say.

those opposed say no. democrats are trying to impeach the president because they are scared they cannot defeat him at the ballot box that's not my words that's the words of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle that has offered impeachment 3 different times this impeachment is not only an attempt to undo the last election is it in tempt to influence the next one as well. over the past weeks more than a dozen witnesses have testified before impeachment investigators behind closed doors leaked portions of their testimony paint a narrative of trump using the power of his office to pressure ukraine to investigate his political rivals to morrison the russian expert on the national security council appeared on capitol hill on thursday despite white house orders not to previous witnesses have said morrison described having

a sinking feeling after he learned a trump wanted ukraine's president to go to a microphone to announce investigations into korma vice president joe biden what's the problem here for the republicans and the presidents of the founders is that the evidence is pretty damning the road toward impeaching president trump is still a long one and democrats into size that impeachment is not a foregone conclusion but thursday's vote paves the way forward and forecasts a bitter partisan battle ahead with trump's presidency at stake castro al-jazeera washington. is an assistant professor of government as american university's school of public affairs no he's criticized and some republicans for calling the impeachment process a coup. this is not a coup this is a constitutional process coups are violent this is illegal this is legitimate this

is what are our system is supposed to do when a man like donald trump seeks to undermine it he's attacking u.s. elections it's ludicrous but it may work and the reason it may work is because republicans have shown they are with this president no matter what i'm sorry to say i see no evidence that anything will ever move republicans ever donald trump said during the 2016 campaign he could shoot somebody 5th avenue and it wouldn't affect his support i think that's right it's very sad to say that doesn't mean all hope is lost james madison who was one of the founders of our constitution said that people are the primary check on the government and i think we'll have to see whether the people whether we can stand up for ourselves are our representatives in congress republican representatives in the house and in the senate i see no evidence that they will do so it's very sad to say that in the real world many republicans people are testifying these are not democrats these are not partisans they understand what's going on republicans in congress are unable to donald trump and supporters

call this a coup it's not a coup this is what's supposed to happen we must try it. iraq's president has to hold early elections and says a prime minister and he will resign but only once a replacement is agreed large crowds have again made their way to thaw please square in central baghdad on thursday night more than 200 people have been killed in the weeks of violent and government protests natasha going to from baghdad and. 9 and a half minutes into an almost 13 minute speech to the nation where by the rockies president barham saleh finally spoke about the resignation of prime minister dilma haiti and holding elections it was a yes but speech to protesters yes maddy will resign but only once a successor is determined yes elections will be held but only after a new election law is implemented and a new election committee formulated rice said it was the prime minister is willing

to submit his resignation he's also asking the political parties to find a replacement within the constitutional and legal measures that would prevent a constitutional vacuum no time frame was given from a haiti's resignation or when elections might be held since october 1st protesters have been demanding maddie's step down and elections held in 60 days monitored by the u.n. to ensure they're free and fair they have until this hour the parliament didn't give anything to satisfy the rage of the demonstrators they didn't give them any hope at the very least the government can call the protesters by removing the mahdi or having his cabinet resign as a festive there were high hopes when it was announced that president saleh would address the country on thursday evening instead there was greater anger and resolve among protesters one called the speech a joke this week the protests in baghdad have been fueled by students many skipped

school members of the teachers attorneys unions boycotted work. i asked my teachers. why do we study and when we have an unknown future how long can we keep silent we study hard to graduate and then want we stay at home maddy has been in office a year he was a consensus prime minister after wrangling in the parliament the u.n. special representative in iraq is urging patience she says no government could comprehensive lee tackle past and present challenges in just one year whether protesters heed that advice remains to be seen the talks are going to aim. baghdad . demonstrators in algeria have rejected plans for fresh elections in december 3rd they'll be neither free nor fair. to government activists want anyone willing to present a disease beautifully could be removed from power he was forced from office in april but many of his former allies still hold senior positions more mass rallies

are planned for friday. president michel aoun says lebanon must change from a sectarian state to a civil one his comments come as antigovernment protests continue with demonstrators calling for political leaders to resign plans to reopen schools and universities have been cancelled and to lead lead to more hard to look many today we are shrink into a government and we hope the upcoming government will live up to the aspirations of the people it should gain the confidence of the people and members of the parliament it must be a government which is capable of achieving what the previous governments had failed that's why ministers should be based on their qualifications and expertise not a political or sectarian leadership lebanon is that they are very critical crossroads it is in dire need of harmonious government back assad has launched an investigation into a train explosion and fire which killed at least 70 people witnesses say some passengers were killed when they jumped out of the moving train to avoid

a fire or thought he says confirm the blaze broke out after 2 gas cylinders and a stove exploded the railways minister has announced compensation of about 9 and a half 1000 dollars for the families of the deceased it's the country's worst rail disaster in more than a decade. homes lost more evacuations as crews in california battle new fast moving fires to new places broke out in the southern part of the states but elsewhere find crews appear to have made some headway the fires across the u.s. state are being fueled by strong unpredictable winds coupled with continues hot and dry weather priyanka gupta has the latest. this is what woke up the terrified residents of san bernardino in southern california 5. how do i hear. it's one of the 2 due wildfires in the area that have been

cost homes and forced hundreds of people out to escape the ruling flames our neighbor over here became bauman oh my door. here today he calls me dan but anyway here here's the down the far of the yeah i can see it and then the fire department came up and he was right by. my neighbor and said you got to go get out of here. for ours far far to struggles against strong wind gusts he blames to stop the fire from spreading in fact. untrue by valley by thursday morning the blaze has spread across 100 in full of tended dry land local authorities are asking people here to stay alert i want to remind people stay vigilant please you don't see the wind blowing real hard right now at least where we're but you go up on the side of the hill or up in the port you know areas the winds are very erratic so

please stay vigilant. in northern california there was some good news hundreds of firefighters they were able to control 60 percent of a major blaze that's been raging since last wednesday. they came good fire is the biggest so far this season it's just. toward nearly $300.00 homes and properties and burned thousands of hectares of land in the sonoma county wine region. the dry santa ana winds from the desert happen blamed for spreading the wildfires across the state winds so dry that the national weather service had to issue an extreme red flag warning in los angeles and ventura counties priyanka gupta al-jazeera also had here.