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Obama "Deal" Leaves Bush-Like "Hole" In HR3962: Big Pharma Gouging Seniors By Skyrocketing Drug Prices NOW! And If & When HR3962 Passes, Any Reductions Based On Bill Effective Date, Not Jan. 21, 2009
Obama “Deal”
Leaves Bush-Like
‘Hole’ In HR3962:
Big Pharma
Gouging Seniors By
Skyrocketing Drug
Prices NOW! And
If & When HR3962
Passes, Any
Reductions Will Be
Based On Bill
Effective Date,
Not Jan. 21, 2009 -
BIG PHARMA
WINS AGAIN!
Tabacco: Allow me to give you an example of how Corporations and Think-Tanks connive to outmaneuver POORLY-WRITTEN LEGISLATION:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0911/17/cnr.01.html
“COLLINS: Yes. Yes. Absolutely, it's going to take some homework. It sounds like, certainly.
All right, Stephanie Elam, appreciate it. Thank you.
Tobacco companies may have found a way around millions of dollars in new taxes. We're talking about loose tobacco used to roll your own cigarettes. Well, taxes on a pound of loose tobacco were raised from $1.10 to almost $25.
The Associated Press reports companies are now re-labeling it as pipe tobacco. Taxes on pipe tobacco are around $3 a pound. The government could lose as much as $32 million a month in tax revenue. President Obama's top moneyman on Capitol Hill this afternoon. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's looking beyond the U.S. financial crisis to the world economy as a whole. Lawmakers will use the hearing to focus on the U.S. role in the G-20, the economic alliance of 19 countries and the European Union.”
Tabacco: Now that you have read that Intro, let me warn you folks:
Politicians sometimes take GRAFT but call it “Lobbying” or “Free Speech”! And some poorly-written legislation, with all those loopholes, is done deliberately with malice of forethought to benefit some covert corporate interests and their own purses. Not all legislative ABOMINATIONS are as brazenly upfront as the Bush DONUT HOLE in his Medicare bill.
Let’s begin at the end:
My Comment3 on http://tabacco.blog-city.com/healthy_22pound_toddler_denied_insurance_coverage_as_underw.htm
Tabacco: That’s the SOLUTION! Now on to the Problem:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0911/17/cnr.01.html
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Drug companies promise to play ball at health care reform, but the cost of drugs is shooting up faster than it has in years. Was it all just lip service?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Just how sincere are drug makers on health care reform? Our Alina Cho explains why the industry's commitment is now in question.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi. You may have heard that drug makers have struck a deal with the White House on health care reform. They've agreed to cut $80 billion over 10 years from the nation's drug bill. That's $8 billion a year. All of that sounds really good, but what many people don't know is while everyone is talking about lowering costs, prescription drug prices are skyrocketing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): At this pharmacy in New York City, the rising costs of prescription drugs is forcing some folks to make tough choices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you have the choice between paying your rent or getting your medications, the choice is obvious. You're going to pay for your shelter first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to make choices. I have to pick and choose, you know, things that I have to do without to get this medication.
CHO: The nation is in the worst recession in decades, but as Americans have less money to spend, brand name drug prices are up. Way up.
DR. SIDNEY WOLFE, PUBLIC CITIZEN: There's no question that the public has been bamboozled, the White House has been bamboozled, and the U.S. Congress has been bamboozled by this ever-successful industry.
CHO: According to a new study for the AARP, the cost of brand name prescription drugs is up more than 9 percent, adding on average $200 a year to the price of a once-daily pill.
And the jump comes just as the drug industry is promising to shave $80 billion in drug costs over 10 years.
PROF. STEPHEN SCHONDELMEYER, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Just a 10 percent increase this year may amount to a $20 to $25 billion increase in drug spend. That kind of overwhelms an $8 billion a year savings.
CHO: Consumer advocates say they've seen it all before. Higher prices every time the government is about to initiate major change.
WOLFE: We see how ghoulish this industry is. And it's almost taunting everyone, as long as you're not going to control our prices, we're going to raise them as much as we want.
CHO: Pharma, the leading drug industry lobby, would not go on camera, but issued a statement, calling the argument, tying drug price increases to health care reform, "a flawed assumption," and adding, "Price increases are the natural result of market forces and unfortunately medicines are always looked at as a cost and never seen as a savings." (END VIDEOTAPE)
Tabacco: Do you really need me to point out that Hitler proved you could justify ANYTHING and that you can never trust the word of anyone, whose personal interests are at stake!
CHO: Some patients are able to take generic drugs. And we should point out that the price of generics has actually gone down almost 9 percent, according to the study. But it's also important to note that not every patient can take generics. In fact, brand name drugs account for nearly 80 percent of all prescription drug spending in the United States.
So that means most Americans, Heidi, who are buying prescription drugs, are now paying more for them. Heidi?
COLLINS: All right, Alina, thank you.
President Obama in China. With the dollar falling, could there be changes in the value of Chinese currency? Why your buying power is riding on the decision.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Let me repeat that “SIMPLE” SOLUTION AGAIN:
All we need do to correct this particular “Loophole” in HR3962 (I keep repeating that reference so you will know it by heart) is tie the legislation sections, dealing with prescription drugs, to a prior date before these Disaster Capitalists began raising the prices to counter the legislation: HR3962. I suggest January 21, 2009 or the effective date of HR3962 – whichever price is lower!
Now that still does not deal with that ABOMINATION in HR3962 wherein the government subsidizes those, who can’t afford healthcare, with our Tax Dollar$ to buy
Tabacco: I consider myself both a funnel and a filter. I funnel information, not readily available on the Mass Media, which is ignored and/or suppressed. I filter out the irrelevancies and trivialities to save both the time and effort of my Readers and bring consternation to the enemies of Truth & Fairness! When you read Tabacco, if you don’t learn something NEW, I’ve wasted your time.
Tabacco is not a blogger, who thinks; I am a Thinker, who blogs.
In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization) – Think Tank For Other 95% Of World: WTP = We The People
Gorgon: In Greek mythology, the Gorgon (plural: Gorgons) (Greek: Γοργών or
Γοργώ Gorgon/Gorgo) was a terrifying "female" creature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon
President Obama:
To Those, who say, "Let's get a bill passed first - we can fix it later":