Wednesday, November 19, 2003
The Medicare Drug Benefit
Good god.
The benefit doesn't kick in until after the 2004 election. Can't the hapless, feckless Beltway Dems smell the bait and switch coming?
And we don't have the money to pay for it, long-term (ie, after 2004) anyhow, because Bush gutted the tax system.
And what there is a giveaway to Big Pharma. A serious program would go single payer, since that way purchasers would have market power, not sellers. (Why do people think that the drugs are cheaper in Canada? Because they're metric? No, it's single payer!)
And best of all... The top of the top... The Republicans say they want to introduce competition... So what's the first thing they do? Subsidize the corporations that are going into the new market. So we're going to subsidize the insurance companies to cherrypick the well, leave Medicare with the sick, and in a couple of years claim the system is broken because unit costs have gone up... Anyone ask George if he knows what a Trojan Horse is?
I tell you, the only turkey this Thanksgiving isn't on my table. If we had an opposition party and a free press in this country, a "reform" like this would be a non-starter.
The benefit doesn't kick in until after the 2004 election. Can't the hapless, feckless Beltway Dems smell the bait and switch coming?
And we don't have the money to pay for it, long-term (ie, after 2004) anyhow, because Bush gutted the tax system.
And what there is a giveaway to Big Pharma. A serious program would go single payer, since that way purchasers would have market power, not sellers. (Why do people think that the drugs are cheaper in Canada? Because they're metric? No, it's single payer!)
And best of all... The top of the top... The Republicans say they want to introduce competition... So what's the first thing they do? Subsidize the corporations that are going into the new market. So we're going to subsidize the insurance companies to cherrypick the well, leave Medicare with the sick, and in a couple of years claim the system is broken because unit costs have gone up... Anyone ask George if he knows what a Trojan Horse is?
I tell you, the only turkey this Thanksgiving isn't on my table. If we had an opposition party and a free press in this country, a "reform" like this would be a non-starter.
