Bush: Fatten the Drug Lobby, Starve the People

I'm not an angry person by nature. But mess with health care, and you mess with me.

Case in point - Drug companies are getting rich off the poorest Americans, all thanks to President Bush.

Further proof that President Bush and his cronies are not out to help average Americans.

The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats' top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.
In an interview, Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, said he saw no prospect of compromise on the issue.
-snip-
In December 2005, just before leaving office, Mr. Leavitt’s predecessor, Tommy Thompson, said he wished Congress had given him the authority to negotiate prices for Medicare beneficiaries, as he negotiated discounts on antibiotics during the anthrax scare of 2001.
New York Times 11-13-06

Medicare Part D, a government insurance program providing prescription drug coverage to over 38 million people, is paid for with our tax dollars.

Because of a 2003 Medicare Law, the federal government is not allowed to negotiate prescription drug prices.

The government is expected to spend at least $31 billion this year on the drug benefit, which provides partial drug coverage for people over age 65, according to the federal agency that runs Medicare. Next year, the program is expected to cost almost $50 billion -- almost 20 percent of overall American drug spending. NY Times 11-06-06

Drug Companies are now posting even larger profits since the start of the Part D program in January of this year.

For big drug companies, the new Medicare prescription benefit is proving to be a financial windfall larger than even the most optimistic Wall Street analysts had predicted. NY Times 11-06-06

The Democrats say that within the first 100 hours of the new session in January, it will introduce legislation to repeal that law.

Representative Nancy Pelosi... has said the House will take up legislation to repeal that ban in its first 100 hours under Democratic control.
Senate Democrats have expressed a similar desire. The eight Democrats newly elected to the Senate all say Medicare should have the power to negotiate with drug makers.
NY Times 11-13-06

The Bush Administration said it will "strenuously oppose" that legislation.

Here's what I don't get.

The government has already put programs in place that negotitateprescriptionrug prices, for example, the Veterans Administration. Democrats say that repealing the ban and allowing the government to negotiate for lower prices could save the government $190 Billion over the next 10 years. Even if this is a slight exaggeration, at the very least, $150 Billion would be an enormous savings for the Federal Government.

So why oppose it?
Exactly who are President Bush and the GOP working for?
The people or the Drug Lobby?

Don't the American people deserve to pay the lowest cost available for their medication? With healthcare costs skyrocketing, and the latest news that the average American faces a 10% jump in healthcare costs, why isn't President Bush willing to do a little more for the average man?

Don't just get angry, get motivated, get out and contact your congressmen and women.

Get on the horn, and start saving our country, our seniors, our disabled and yourself a little dough.