ALTHOUGH I agree with Christopher Anderson that Senate President Therese Murray "deserves significant credit" for her proposed efforts to control healthcare costs ("Righting healthcare reform," Op-ed, March 31), I disagree with his statement that restricting pharmaceutical interactions with physicians "counters the stated goal of controlling costs."
The "education" and accompanying gifts that pharmaceutical sales representatives provide to physicians typically pertain to the new, expensive medications instead of the older, cheaper, and as effective generic medications. In addition to being more expensive, the long-term effectiveness and side effects of these newer drugs often have not been fully determined.
Contrary to Anderson's op-ed, physicians should not be reliant on this biased "education" for updates on medication side effects and "life-altering drugs." Rather, they are taught in their training to remain informed with unbiased sources such as peer-reviewed medical journals.
In her proposed legislation, Murray showed leadership by committing to control healthcare costs and serving the citizens of the Commonwealth instead of pleasing the pharmaceutical industry.
MARCO CORNELIO
North Reading
The writer is a student at Tufts University School of Medicine.
