Obama Lauds Drug Deal for Elderly, Says 'Yes We Can' on Health Care Reform
By Susie Madrak Tuesday Jun 23, 2009 11:00amWASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday hailed a deal with U.S. drug co through mpanies to cut prescription costs for the elderly, a move that could help him drive his ambitious healthcare reforms Congress."This is a significant breakthrough on the road to healthcare reform, one that will make the difference in the lives of many older Americans," Obama said at the White House of the agreement struck with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America industry association.
Reviving one of his best known slogans from the campaign trail, Obama took aim at naysayers on healthcare reform: "Yes, we can. We are going to get this done."
[...] Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress hope to bring down the long-term costs of healthcare that recent data show are soaring out of control.
Part of that long-term picture is improving the health of Americans and toward that end, Obama on Monday signed into law a landmark bill that gives the U.S. government broad regulatory power for the first time over cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The drug deal, which offers $80 billion in prescription discounts over 10 years to help elderly Americans afford drugs, comes ahead of a week of discussions in Congress on how to pay for Obama's reforms and ensure coverage for the 46 million Americans who do not have health insurance.
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Cannabis?
I wonder how many elderly think cannabis is the name of a major line of tubed biscuit dough?
I'd like to eat fried chicken there.
to take three times a day till the ol bod finally says . .enough of this sh*t.
...is that the drug companies are scared and throwing Obama a bone. Now he can say he accomplished something when the rest of the health care reforms are eroded to the point of having no impact on the crisis we're facing.
playing to the senior vote.
on msnbc, touting the medicare prescription deal, part D, and how "seniors are happy"... so let's work together to get healthcare for all (something like that)...
i can never see enough of the fine print at the end, but do make out "paid for by the American Pharma___ ..."...
the seniors are HAPPY about partD?... i thought it was a rip-off...
...commercial. Yeah, they're actually saying the seniors who retired from a big pharma are happy; especially about the part where the government can't negotiate for lower prices. That REALLY made 'em happy.
Fool me once…
Fool me twice…
You can't get fooled again?
Do you mean:
Fool me thrice…?
A fool speaks
when his earpiece lost signal...what a fuckin moron...thank the goawds he ain't preznit no more.
Change you can pretend in…
that's all well and good I guess...
but I can't help but feel skeptical that any meaningful change will happen.
Hopeful...but skeptical.
The Audacity of Skepticism!
;)
LOL!
The Oddassity of Skepticism!
is nothing Odd about my ass.
There's Baalam's talking one....and Francis (a mule), but I keep mine relatively quiet.
the skepticism of oddassity...
Is it 420 yet?
altogether differnt.
And no, it ain't quite 4:20 yet...
And 5 o'clock "somewhere".
n/t
...if polls show wide support for something, but the Democrats in the Senate say they don't have the votes to pass it... then it might be time for some NEW DEMOCRATS!!!
that's my thoughts on the matter.
C'mon, friendz...get real...
The Dims aren't gonna upset that very profitable, very rich, very generous "apple-cart."
WTH?
Like Kucinich dude!
Most americans, when polled, support health care reform. I need it. I want it. Those same americans shudder at the thought of a tax increase to pay for it. What the populace wants is total reform without any sacrifice on their part.
Obama's team needs to sell america on a cost/benefit analysis. They're going to have to break it down on a Sesame Street level but they need to sell it. They need to sell it to a dumbed down america that votes against their own self interests (Palin voters). I hope Rahm is eating Wheaties.
Americans want something for NOTHING? Nooo...what a shock.
And that is exactly how Republican's get elected. That is how GW Bush sold the war. That is exactly why the war is still on.
If you only fuck a minority...such as enlisted men and their families...or immigrants...the majority will go along with it.
There is no American community. There is only...am I getting fucked? No..ok...but someone else is? Oh...too bad...sucks to be them. Go ahead and do what you want.
THAT, my friends is today's America.
...57% of Americans would be willing to pay 3% more in taxes to pay for a public plan.
This isn't about the public, it's about a congress controlled by corporations and not by the voters who put them there.
that's good. Maybe Americans are finally waking up.
Remember:
You are a consumer, you are not a citizen, you are not even a human being.
Take a
Social SecurityEntitlement number and we will contact you.moniker "CONSUMER"
may as well be fodder.
Hello Mudder, Hello Fodder.
;)
Hey, somebody's GOT to try to keep morale up.
Sigh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vybVaAOurY0
Cut the military spending to pay for healthcare!!!
Tell the Pentagon it will no longer be the main supplier of weapons to the planet!
We have "other priorities" now.
The Pentagon needs to have its nose cut off...big time.
We HAVE the money to pay for healthcare NOW!!! The only problem it's in the Pentagon's account!!!!
would be to drastically cut USer "defense" spending...(in scare quotes, because the vast majority of our rmaments are OFFENSIVE, FIRST-STRIKE weapons)...
USers are (still) deeply terrified by the rest of the world, which rared back and bit 'em 8 years ago, and will certainly do so again.
we used to WIN the guns versus butter argument.
Not anymore. The GOP used fear and demagoguery to cow the public and to call into question the patriotism of ANYONE that suggested cutting military spending.
The Dems lost the majority because they were painted as weak on defense. That is why they sign off on everything the Pentagon wants...even today.
require critical care and demand they be kept alive at any cost.
How would the GOP keep alive all the Schiavos of the world? The mind wobbles.
Don't kid yourself. Schiavo's plug would have been pulled the nanosecond her funding ran out.
we are Shiavos and want to keep it that way. They don't waant an educated public.
How ironic
Big PhRMa still holds the whip hand, as long as the biggest purchaser of those products--the Feds--are forbidden from negotiating for the best price, we are ALL still at their mercy...
Voluntary reductions?
Fuck that. All that means is that they can then again raise the prices anyfucking time they want, as much as they want.
Wait til the pressure's off. All that shjit'll go right out the window...
Bullshit. A few percent of their profits.
Average Big Pharma profit margin, close to 20%
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global...
Industry total 2007 profits over %300 billion
http://www.reportlinker.com/p0118600/US-Pharm...
$8 billion a year, maybe they'll cut.
B F D !
And that dope Obama keeps falling for it. Wasn't it a few weeks ago the Healthcos made som epromise to hold down the rate of increase and our President was sooo happy and then only a few days later they recanated.
That's what happens when we have a "negotiator" instead of a fighter in charge. Be prepared for another fifteen years in the wilderness.
That Barack Obama was FOR Universal Health Care in 2003.
Ya' think ABC will run this clip for him at "The Town Hall Meetin'"??:
http://buelahman.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/oba...
but I'm sick and tired of hearing about the damn "elderly."
What about working parents and their kids? What type of health care reform to they get out of this?
We the elderly, some of us that smoke, are paying for SCHIP. I'm sick and tired of people always use the children as a tool for their special interests.
Me, too. I made a conscious choice not to have children. As a result, I missed out on free money for college (I was in my 30s when I went back to school- other women with one or more children, even married with both parents working, qualified for grants) and extra tax benefits. (Why not give tax breaks to responsible people who choose not to have children? We are using up fewer resources.)
Sorry, I know many people choose to have children and are responsible parents... but we keep hearing about "uninsured children" when there are millions of us adults- too old to qualify for SCHIP, too young to qualify for Medicare- left high and dry.
This is guaranteed not to last. Obviously neither Barack Obama, Congress, nor Big Pharma can be trusted. Outlaw health insurance, nationalize the entire health care system, from hospitals to hospice to drugs. Free health and dental care cradle to grave. Open the military hospitals to everyone. Good enough for the troops - good enough for the rest of us. Throw the current bums out and pay everyone fair wages. Plenty of jobs. No law suits. No one to bribe...
Put in a provision in the bill that cancels all medical school debt.
Then make med school free for those who can win their way into the absurdly, obscenely competitive system.
But then pay them like good IT pros.
$8 billion in 10 years, huh? Well, whoopee. Get a clue, Mr. President. What Big Pharma and that smug jackass Max Baucus know is that a lot can happen in 10 years and memories can be mercifully short. How much money will the drug industry rake in over that same 10 years? Don't shove this crap at us and have the audacity to call it "reform".
You go for this and you've just given the drug companies a green light for business as usual. The people or the money, whose side are you on?
Here's what they will do. They will offer $80 billion in discounts over the next ten years, sure, but it will all be on prescription medications that no one takes. They know what is being used and what isn't. They can come up with a list that will be useless to the people, but they'll be able to say they offered the $80 billion in discounts but nobody took them up on it. In the meantime, they will increase the cost of the drugs that people actually take. This is just a ruse on their part to set up an argument that we don't need no stinkin' health care reform, 'cause see, the corporations are willing to do the "right" thing without it.
If you really want to make the pharmaceutical industry act responsibly- and cut costs- ban all paid advertisements on prescription drugs. Hey, when I grew up I never saw ads for drugs on TV. We were never told "ask your doctor about..." The doctor diagnosed us and treated us with medication, if they felt it was necessary, not because we asked for it. The majority of meds people are on these days are not even necessary; pull the ads, and most will forget some of these drugs even exist- and they won't ask for them on demand.
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