Medicare D: Fix It Now
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| Also listed in: Featured Bloggers |
In our political system, there is no more outrageous symbol of the power of money and the influence wielded by lobbyists (outside of Jack Abramoff) than the Medicare prescription drug bill.
Seniors were an afterthought in the writing of that legislation, as more than 900 lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry and the HMO's massaged senators and representatives to produce the kind of legislation that only a corporate board member could love.
It's time to fix the mess. We need to keep the promise we made to America's seniors when the prescription drug bill was first being discussed.
Let's remember, though, how we got here. In 2003, the federal government finally had an opportunity to address sky-high prescription drug prices for American seniors with a Medicare prescription drug plan. Unfortunately, Congress delivered a bill that put the interests of Big Pharma before those of average Americans. The plan was so complicated that some seniors couldn't figure out which of the 43 separate plans offered in Arizona (1,400 nationally) that they should sign up for, and the government didn't devote the resources necessary to help seniors navigate the program. Meanwhile, the bill prevented the federal government from negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies, as the Veterans Administration does. That means the government is purchasing full-price drugs from Big Pharma, improving the corporate bottom line, while taxpayers are stuck with the bill for the difference between the co-pays seniors pay and the actual cost of the drugs. In other words, we're wasting billions in taxpayers' dollars, because lawmakers refused to let the market work for consumers. Conservative estimates put the waste at more than $330 billion over eight years.
As an architect of the prescription drug bill, my opponent, Jon Kyl put the drug companies' interests before those of consumers. That shouldn't come as a surprise. Kyl has taken nearly $200,000 from pharmaceutical interests during his Congressional career. He consistently does the big drug companies' bidding on the Senate floor. Kyl voted against allowing Americans to re-import safe prescription drugs from other countries; he helped write the new Medicare law which was riddled with special interest giveaways; and he cast the deciding vote against allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices.
While seniors deal with a complicated and inadequate plan and taxpayers are charged too much for drugs, the drug companies are reeling in record profits. Big pharmaceutical companies alone will receive an additional $139.2 billion in profits over the next eight years under the new program.
Those companies joined with HMOs, and health care interests to spend big on lobbying for this legislation. In fact, the year the Medicare drug bill was passed, those interests spent nearly $141 million on lobbying in Washington.
We need to fix the prescription drug program today, and do everything we can to lower the cost of prescription drugs -- a major factor in the overall rise of healthcare costs. That's why I've proposed my own prescription drug plan. To read it, please go to www.pederson2006.com.
The Pederson prescription drug plan attacks the problems seniors have had with Medicare D and saves as much as $500 billion on prescription drug prices. It would also lower drug prices for non-seniors and eliminates an outrageous tax giveaway that currently goes to Big Pharma.
The plan has five main provisions. It would:
1. Fix the problems with the Medicare prescription drug plan and clear up the confusion by...
-- Raising the standards for private drug plans (PDPs) allowed to participate in the Medicare prescription drug program, so only plans abiding by the highest standards are allowed to participate.
-- Allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.
-- Using savings from negotiation to fill the "doughnut hole," which results in a coverage gap that will cost many seniors thousands of dollars.
-- Giving seniors more flexibility - and increasing competition among PDPs - by allowing seniors to switch plans without incurring an unfair penalty.
-- Eliminating the "enrollment tax" for seniors who enrolled after May 15.
2. Protect our most vulnerable seniors by eliminating all fees for seniors on AHCCS (Medicaid).
3. Allow for the safe re-importation of FDA-approved prescription drugs.
4. Speed the availability of less costly generic drugs.
5. Repeal special interest tax breaks that drug companies receive for television advertising.
The government needs to keep its promise to America's seniors, and the giveaway of our tax dollars must end.
Seniors were an afterthought in the writing of that legislation, as more than 900 lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry and the HMO's massaged senators and representatives to produce the kind of legislation that only a corporate board member could love.
It's time to fix the mess. We need to keep the promise we made to America's seniors when the prescription drug bill was first being discussed.
Let's remember, though, how we got here. In 2003, the federal government finally had an opportunity to address sky-high prescription drug prices for American seniors with a Medicare prescription drug plan. Unfortunately, Congress delivered a bill that put the interests of Big Pharma before those of average Americans. The plan was so complicated that some seniors couldn't figure out which of the 43 separate plans offered in Arizona (1,400 nationally) that they should sign up for, and the government didn't devote the resources necessary to help seniors navigate the program. Meanwhile, the bill prevented the federal government from negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies, as the Veterans Administration does. That means the government is purchasing full-price drugs from Big Pharma, improving the corporate bottom line, while taxpayers are stuck with the bill for the difference between the co-pays seniors pay and the actual cost of the drugs. In other words, we're wasting billions in taxpayers' dollars, because lawmakers refused to let the market work for consumers. Conservative estimates put the waste at more than $330 billion over eight years.
As an architect of the prescription drug bill, my opponent, Jon Kyl put the drug companies' interests before those of consumers. That shouldn't come as a surprise. Kyl has taken nearly $200,000 from pharmaceutical interests during his Congressional career. He consistently does the big drug companies' bidding on the Senate floor. Kyl voted against allowing Americans to re-import safe prescription drugs from other countries; he helped write the new Medicare law which was riddled with special interest giveaways; and he cast the deciding vote against allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices.
While seniors deal with a complicated and inadequate plan and taxpayers are charged too much for drugs, the drug companies are reeling in record profits. Big pharmaceutical companies alone will receive an additional $139.2 billion in profits over the next eight years under the new program.
Those companies joined with HMOs, and health care interests to spend big on lobbying for this legislation. In fact, the year the Medicare drug bill was passed, those interests spent nearly $141 million on lobbying in Washington.
We need to fix the prescription drug program today, and do everything we can to lower the cost of prescription drugs -- a major factor in the overall rise of healthcare costs. That's why I've proposed my own prescription drug plan. To read it, please go to www.pederson2006.com.
The Pederson prescription drug plan attacks the problems seniors have had with Medicare D and saves as much as $500 billion on prescription drug prices. It would also lower drug prices for non-seniors and eliminates an outrageous tax giveaway that currently goes to Big Pharma.
The plan has five main provisions. It would:
1. Fix the problems with the Medicare prescription drug plan and clear up the confusion by...
-- Raising the standards for private drug plans (PDPs) allowed to participate in the Medicare prescription drug program, so only plans abiding by the highest standards are allowed to participate.
-- Allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.
-- Using savings from negotiation to fill the "doughnut hole," which results in a coverage gap that will cost many seniors thousands of dollars.
-- Giving seniors more flexibility - and increasing competition among PDPs - by allowing seniors to switch plans without incurring an unfair penalty.
-- Eliminating the "enrollment tax" for seniors who enrolled after May 15.
2. Protect our most vulnerable seniors by eliminating all fees for seniors on AHCCS (Medicaid).
3. Allow for the safe re-importation of FDA-approved prescription drugs.
4. Speed the availability of less costly generic drugs.
5. Repeal special interest tax breaks that drug companies receive for television advertising.
The government needs to keep its promise to America's seniors, and the giveaway of our tax dollars must end.
