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Many,
in the years ahead, are likely to find themselves cut
off when the drugs they need change and aren’t
covered by the plan they chose, or when the plan they
chose decides it can profit more by dropping the drug
they need. And perhaps worst of all, the sick who need
the most costly drugs will find themselves in the “hole
in doughnut” – above the threshold where
their drugs are covered and faced with staggering out
of pocket costs. This from a program that will cost
Americans over $500 billion over the next ten years.
Why
is this program so bad? Our most vulnerable citizens
are paying the costs of Washington corruption. This
is a drug program written by and for the insurance companies
and the drug companies by compromised and compliant
Bush political appointees and Republican legislators.
Hearing
about the lavish life style of Republican boss Tom DeLay,
or the cynical corruption of ex-Christian Coalition
leader Ralph Reed, with his choir boy looks, many Americans
dismiss congressional corruption as an insider’s
game – Washington rot that goes on all the time.
But
it is the vulnerable that pay the costs of corruption.
And the prescription drug program is a perfect example.
Reformers called for the program to be set up under
Medicare. That would have enabled Medicare to use its
purchasing power to negotiate lower prices for drugs,
the way the Australian and the U.S. Veteran’s
Administration do. A new study by the Center for Economic
and Policy Research shows that the savings would be
such that, under the current budget, all the drug needs
of seniors could be covered, with some billions in savings
sent back to the lower the deficit.
But
that is not the bill that Republican boss Tom DeLay
forced through the Congress, holding the vote open for
hours while he bullied reluctant colleagues into voting
for it. DeLay was rebuked by the bipartisan and normally
inactive House Ethics Committee, chaired by a Republican,
for essentially bribing one Republican to support the
bill (the legislator said DeLay offered $100,000 in
support for his sons’ election campaign for a
positive vote).
The
bill shovels billions in subsidies to the insurance
companies to encourage them to offer competing plans
for seniors. And then actually PROHIBITS Medicare from
negotiating a better price for seniors. DeLay and his
gang turned a benefit for seniors into a multi-billion
dollar payoff to the insurance and drug lobbies.
Why
did they do that? Money and corruption. Thomas Scully,
Bush’s appointee to run Medicare, was a hospital
industry lobbyist before taking office. While in office,
Scully got a “waiver” that allowed him to
negotiate his future job – as a lobbyist for the
drug companies – while still in office. So not
surprisingly, Scully misled the Congress about the cost
of the bill and threatened to fire his chief actuary
when he wanted to tell the Congress the truth about
the cost projections.
And
the Republican committee chair in charge of ushering
the bill through was Rep. Billy Tauzin. Once the bill
passed, Tauzin retired to take a million dollar salary
as president of big PHARMA – the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America – the drug
industry’s big-bucks lobby.
DeLay
got massive drug company and insurance company contributions
to help consolidate the Republican hold on Congress
and his hold on Republicans. Scully and Tauzin got lucrative
jobs – a pretty direct payoff.
Seniors
– the most vulnerable of Americans – are
paying the price in confusion, catastrophic drug cutoffs,
escalating drug prices. And American taxpayers pay for
the costliest health system in the world, with the worst
health results in the industrial world. So when people
say the stench in Washington doesn’t matter, take
another whiff. It is time to clean out those stables.
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