12.01.2003
Drug War on our Elders
The War On Drugs (Prescription Drugs for Seniors, That Is!) by James Boyne offers some insight into the freshly passed Republican Medicare Bill.
Take a calculator and do the math. If a senior has approximately $5000 in prescription drug expenses in a year; with the yearly premium paid ($420), the $250 deductible, the 25% co-pay, and the gap between $2250 and $5200 with no payment; the end result is a senior would pay 75% of their drug costs and many drugs would not be allowed or approved increasing the 75% to even higher. In summary, on the first $5200 in drug costs, a senior will pay $4000.
Follow the money and see why individual legislators voted for the corrupt Medicare bill.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers, for example, have averaged $28,504 to the 204 Republicans who supported the bill, but just $8,112 to the 25 Republicans who opposed it. Pharmaceutical contributions to Democrats on both sides of the debate are less varied. The 16 Democrats who voted "yes" on the bill have raised an average of $16,296 from pharmaceutical manufacturers, while the 189 Democrats who voted "no" have raised an average of $11,791.
That quotation is the tip of the iceberg. Check the link offered above from The Center for Responsive Politics.
Ted Marmer and Jacob S. Hacker offer some insight on AARP and its traitorous actions to its membership concerning the bill.
It seems the Republican Right wishes to force Seniors to live like fakir Prahlad Jani, a man claiming not to have eaten or drunk in 10 years. It's a sure bet he has gone without medication too.
12/01/2003
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Some of the arm twisting that went on behind the scenes of the Medicare vote.
Smith, self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him from a GOP district in Michigan's southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
Read the full Novak article. Yeah, that Novak.
Link gleaned at the always excellent Cursor
12/01/2003
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"Eisenhower warned us: Rise of militarism under George W. Bush puts America on the road to ruin" by John L. Graham
12/01/2003
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