What is bad about this new Medicare bill?

[Nlighten1]

Help me understand this.

[madfloridian]

1. Type in Medicare bill and do a search.

There are many threads on it. I am too tired now to search for you, otherwise I would.

It is bad bill, and the implications are frightening. I fought hard as did others, but they won.

[leftyandproud]

5. competition..

is fine when you are selling shoes...but we are talking about LIFE AND DEATH...I don't care if a corporation can do it cheaper than the government...the point is..LIFE AND DEATH DECISIONS are being made with MONEY being the prime motivator. Corporations should not be involved in the health industry at all in my opinion. By making it an issue of profits, OF COURSE the corporations will win the competition!!! They will be able to do stuff cheaper than government, but once they get a monopoly on it, they are free to screw the people. Government only has the people in mind..not profit.

[xray s]

7. That is the ultimate irony

The federal government can provide the benefit more cheaply than the private sector!

[leftyandproud]

8. no, they CAN'T provide it cheaper..

that is why the competition SUCKS...it virtually guarantees medicare will be privatized in the end...and healthcare should not be a for profit business!

[xray s]

9. why do you think insurance companies are more efficient than Medicare

In my experience the opposite is true.

The feds do not have the expenses of marketing, advertising, big executive salaries or stockholders demanding a profit. Hense, they can provide the benefit at a lower cost (2% for administration) versus the private plans (which spend 15% on administration, plus a host of red tape costs they impose on doctors and pharmacies)

The feds wouldn't have to bribe them to offer a program if it was profitable.

[La_Serpiente]

2. The secretary of health

won't be able to negotiate lower drug prices with the pharmas. Sometimes, when the government negotiates, the price can drop from 82 cents a pill to 1 or 2 cents.

I am not sure on this one, but the drug companies would be allowed to limit their imports to Canada where they have price controls. What will this do? Fatten their profits, force Canada to get rid of their price controls, and increase the cost of drugs for seniors that go to Canada to buy their drugs.

[Hippo_Tron]

23. Yup, and you can thank Dick Santorum for that...

He seems to think that if we allow people to get their drugs from Canada that that the drug companies will go into financial ruin and will stop producing new medicines. Well Mr. Santorum here's a novel idea, why don't you tell the drug companies to invest the several hundred million dollars that they donate to you and your friends' campaigns every year into research and development. That way they'll have enough money so that they don't have to worry about seniors going to Canada and you won't be recieving any contributions from them so you'll have no reason to bitch about it. That bit about not allowing the secretary to negotiate is bullshit as well. Nancy made a point of this when it was in the House and John McCain made a point of this in the committee. Also, as Chris Dodd points out Breaux and Baucus were the only democrats allowed into the negotiations.

[JI7]

3. it's welfare for large corporations

pretty much, rather than helping people, it helps the large corporations. that's all i can say for now. but i'm sure someone else will provide the actual details of it so you get a better understanding of it. and see why i describe it the way i do.

[redqueen]

4. Check this thread for answers, too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=767039

[xray s]

6. A few things for me

1. Throws billions of our tax dollars at insurance companies to entice them to do what they do not want to do...insure old sick people. And, after they take those billions, there is nothing to stop them from walking away from the deal later. The federal system can provide the benefit cheaper, because their administration cost are about 2% versus the private sector which runs around 15% (higher due to advertising, marketing, CEO salaries etc)

2. Prevents the market from lowering drug costs by banning the Federal government from leveraging its buying power to reduce costs. Also in effect bans imports from Canada because Tommy Thompson will not allow it (he has been quoted as saying Canadians should be paying more for their drugs)

More here...

http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/Reform_PDrugBillreallyProvides....htm

http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/Media_PR_reform_SignOnLtr.htm

[LastTime2BeFree]

10. The most obvious is not mentioned

It gives the pubs a gold star in the eyes of some.

[xray s]

11. Only until reality kicks in

People get mad when they are the victim of a 'bait and switch'

BTW, anybody heard about how this is going to be paid for?

[redqueen]

16. Charged to kids and grandkids, of course.

Oh, those nutty 'borrow and spend' rethuglicans.

on edit: at least when Dems spend they do it responsibly! Repubs like to charge it to credit, GUARANTEEING that you'll pay more for whatever it is you're buying via interest payments. Maybe they have ties to the banking industry?

[Malva Zebrina]

20. what reality?

Bush will make the reality he wants and people will believe it. That is pathetic because he is such a crass, pathetic little actor of a dimwitted asshole.

For three years he has made the reality he wants--pracctically unfettered--when it is not the reality at all and he has gotten away with it. People will believe his Potemptkin reality, including the members of congress from the so called opposition party.

It will go on and after today, with the weak showing of the Democrats on the outrageous Medicare bill, I am afraid it will go one for a LONG time. We , I feel, are doomed if we are seniors in the lower income brackett and we get sick, which we will sooner or later.

Bush will be elected in 2004, I think,and I am sorry to have to throw the wrench into the postive thinking here on DU, but there does come a time when it must be admitted that Bush is holding all the cards, and a few that the Democrats have given him--he is KING, really-I am tired of pretending we can win over this, when days like today happen ever the more so frequently--over and over.

[adriennel]

12. the bill means...

Medicare will be made more efficient and less complicated by the introduction of private HMO options for seniors.

--If you have ever been a member of an HMO, you know THEY SUCK and you can't even take a crap without prior approval.

Seniors will pay less for prescription drugs.

--since negotiations and price controls with pharmaceutical companies are prohibited by this bill, we will ALL pay more for prescription drugs, including seniors. We already pay some of the world's highest prescription prices, and this bill ensures we will continue to be gouged for years to come. Yippee!

[xray s]

14. dupe

[xray s]

15. Yeah...you get to buy a discount card

but end up paying even more because you can not import from Canada and the drug companies are free to raise prices to offset the discount.

Bait and switch, that is the mantra of the Bush empire

[Malva Zebrina]

22. Not only that but if you have some disease that requires a lot of treatmen

you may not be able to get the coverage, or will have to pay more. That may be particulary true if you have diabetes--it can be held against you since the risks of complications in diabetes are many--eye problems, heart problems,circulation problems and kidney problems and liver problems--I have been noticing a change also in the rhteoric--the bar is lowered now--pre diabetics , if their fasting blood sugar is 100 are being called Pre-diabetic--it used to be that a normal blood sugar was 90-110--now they are calling a BS of 100 "pre-diabetic" Howcome this lowering of the bar? I suspect, my friends, that corporations are already running our lives without us even realizing it.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

13. Because it's nothing but corporate welfare designed to bankrupt Medicare

It prevents us from importing medicine from Canada at cheaper prices, it forbids medicare from even negotiating cheaper rates for meds, and it refuses to suspend patents for drug companies to get generics.

Instead, it funnels billions into pharma corporations, so Medicare will be bankrupt and it can be "privatized".

[xray s]

17. It was jammed down the throat

No hearings. No input from seniors, even though they overwhelmingly do not like what they hear about it.

It stinks. That is why it had to pass in the middle of the night in the House, after the worst "sausage making" vote in history.

People get mad when good programs are changed without their being asked. They can spot a turd dressed up as a rose a mile away.

Just watch how this plays out in the months to come.

McCain was right. By next summer, they will be back in the Senate trying to flush this monster down the toilet.

[Snellius]

18. It's dishonest and corrupt.

Yes, there are some great things about this bill but they come at an extortionary cost.

The problem is Medicare is going to go bankrupt. Everyone knows that. So we have a choice, a fork in the road, we can either cut costs (cut benefits, bargain for bulk rates, regulate prices as with energy, streamline the administration, etc.) or we can get more money (increase payroll taxes, increase premiums, etc.). What do the Republicans do. Neither. Instead of choosing a new route, they go backwards, moving to get out of the problem all together. The only way to solve the medical crisis is to institute a rational system of health insurance. Every advanced country in the world has some form of universal, public insurance. And despite their problems, none want to trade their system for the cost and chaos we have. What we have and what the Republicans want to perpetuate is an unregulated monopoly of a necessity of life. That's a power that can't help but be abused. Otherwise, this is nothing but a poltical maneuvre in Karl Rove's grand scheme to get Bush re-elected. And why? So that they can finish the job of sabotaging every visage of Democratic social reforms.

[prolesunited]

19. Anytime you have an industry pushing

for legislation you know it's NOT going to be good for consumers. Of course, the liberal media is doing such an excellent job in showing you it is such a huge windfall for the pharma industry.


How much was spent on lobbying
The trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, will spend at least $150 million in the coming year, representing an increase of 23 percent over this year's budget of $121.7 million, fighting price controls around the world, subsidizing "like-minded organizations" and paying economists to produce op-ed articles and monographs in response to critics.

Where the money (which comes from dues will total $143.8 million in the coming year, an increase of 24 percent) is going:
— The drug trade group plans to spend $1 million for an "intellectual echo chamber of economists — a standing network of economists and thought leaders to speak against federal price control regulations through articles and testimony, and to serve as a rapid response team."

— In its budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, the pharmaceutical lobby earmarks $72.7 million for advocacy at the federal level, directed mainly at Congress; $4.9 million to lobby the Food and Drug Administration; and $48.7 million for advocacy at the state level.

— In addition, the budget sets aside $17.5 million to fight price controls and protect patent rights in foreign countries and in trade negotiations.

— The PhRMA budget allocates $1 million "to change the Canadian health care system" and $450,000 to stem the flow of low-price prescription drugs from online pharmacies in Canada to customers in the United States.

Much more on this topic here:
http://bernie.house.gov/documents/articles/20030602123259.asp

How much pharma industry stands to gain
An estimated 61.1 percent of the Medicare dollars that will be spent to buy more prescriptions will remain in the hands of drug makers as added profits. The windfall means an estimated $139 billion dollars in increased profits over eight years for the world's most profitable industry.

At $17 billion annually, this means about a 38 percent rise in drug maker profit.

The legislation explicitly prohibits Medicare from acting to negotiate or contain the drug prices paid under the new program. Of the $228 billion of $400 billion in new federal spending over next eight years, 75.6 percent will go to drug manufacturers as gross income.

Drug makers' net increase in profit is estimated at $139.2 billion over the eight-year life of the program.

PDF report on New Medicare Rx Benefit Means Big Profits for Drug Makers
http://www.healthreformprogram.org/

Bernie Sanders has an excellent, easily digestible Web site covering the pharma industry:
http://bernie.house.gov/prescriptions/index.asp

[genius]

21. Does anyone have the voting information. I know Feinstein's

one of the bad guys.

[MissMarple]

24. Employers may drop all retirees drug coverage. Looking for a way out.

Check out this, it helped me. It's actually kind of scary. Employer based healthcare for current or retired employees isn't working IMHO and this just illustrates how.

http://csmonitor.com/2003/1124/p01s03-uspo.html