Tom Carper: Can't Negotiate for Lower Drug Prices Because It 'Wouldn't Be Fair'. Oh, Boo Hoo.
By Susie Madrak Sunday Sep 27, 2009 9:00am
Since the Senate is the group turning the health care debate into "either-or" - as in, "either" regular citizens get screwed "or" the health-for-profit industry gets screwed, I thought I'd point this out as a perfect example of how they think:
The Finance Committee seemed to come very close to passing an amendment Tuesday that would have violated the White House deal with the pharmaceutical industry.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) proposed ending what some Democrats have called a windfall for the pharmaceutical industry – and he picked up strong support from his party.
But two sources familiar with the process say it is still likely to fall short when the committee votes Wednesday.
As part of the 2003 Medicare prescription drug program, more than 6 million low-income seniors were shifted from Medicaid, which allowed the government to negotiate a deep discount for drugs, to the Medicare program, which did not. This has resulted in the government paying about 30 percent more for drugs, according to an analysis by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Fla.).
Nelson’s amendment would shift these beneficiaries back to the Medicaid program, resulting in $86 billion in savings that could be used to close the donut hole for senior citizens.
Senators were drawn into a tense discussion over the merits of the White House’s $80 billion deal with the pharmaceutical industry, and the failings, as some Democrats see it, of the Medicare prescription drug program.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said the Finance Committee should honor the deal with the drug industry. To suddenly double their obligation from $80 billion to more than $160 billion would not be “fair,” he said.
Now, think about that. Senior citizens are not getting needed medication because it's too expensive, but it's more important to continue giving pharmaceutical companies this windfall because they're counting on it and it wouldn't be "fair" to take it away from them.
Just so we're clear.
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Just not in THIS healthcare reform bill.
Load this reform up with everything and it will not pass.
It is called "political reality"
Carper is from the Democratic Wing of the American Corporate Party(ACP). He represents his owners, as does Obama & all the Blue Dogs. When(Try never)the Democratic Party kicks out all the Blue Dogs, we will become an actual opposition party.
what a douche bag!
Why in the hell do conservative repuglicans and democrats weep so for the wealthy ? And don't give 2 sh@ts for what happens to the common people?! Because they ARE THE WEALTHY!!! Let's start electing some common people to office and show these monacle wearing country club clowns that do nothing but protect their own self interests the door.
... and honors his back room deals.
Shameless.
Which Congress members are working for the people's interests and which are working for corporate interests.
You can only serve ONE master.
The people are getting the shaft.
You can serve both by serving one, but they've been serving the wrong one for years.
............seems like a great man said that about 2,000 and it got Him killed.
will be honoring his pledge to Max Pact, the Democratic Senate Political Suicide Pill offered up with the support of Big Pharma.
Or is it that our government is now just a corporate criminal enterprise that spends all of their time figuring out ways to extort the wealth productivity of the people.
Treating companies and/or industries as if they were people, deserving of the same kind of consideration you'd give to a person. The pharma industry is just that, an industry. Merely a mechanism for delivering goods or services. The nauseating irony is the number of actual people who are screwed over and treated unfairly because of this.
As long as our country operates under this deception, how can their be meaningful progress?
What does he mean "doubling their obligation"? They are in business to sell the products they produce. The citizens in that morons district should recall his sorry ass.
It's what corporate owned Senators do. Creating a smoke screen for his corporate pals to rape America's workers.
have a video collection of sick people suffering in agony and pain that he gets off on watching? At this point it certainly would not surprise me in the least.
That simple-minded, bought-and-paid-for corporate dickheads like this one STILL HAVE A JOB!
Just sayin'.....
Would I LOVE seeing this clown pushing a shopping cart full of aluminum cans? You freakin' betcha!
We are trusting this government to tend to our medical needs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k5y3fBH9Og
Not going to happen folks. We have so many underlying systemic problems in this country that until they are addressed, we should expect no meaningful reform to com from health care.
Can't knock a guy for representing his constituents. In this case Amgen, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, GlaxoSmithKline, etc. He holds stock in Medco "the nation's leading pharmacy benefit manager", Merck, Medtronic, Cardinal Health, Wyeth labs, HCP, Koch Industries, etc.
It's kind of hard to tell right now.
This is shameful. The bastards get sent to Congress to represent the people, yet the represent special interest. This can't be allowed to go on, too many people are hurt by this.
is a blue whore democrat. I can't call him blue "dog" because I don't want to impugn or sully the reputation of our beloved canines. Whore seems apt. Matt Taibbi in September's Rolling Stone called Max Baucus the biggest [insurance] whore in Congress. That's where I got the idea to rescue dogs and call the Blues what they are - whores.
I think not.
These SOBs should be called Red Dog Dems.
Blue ties, red underwear.
Beware the Red menace.
EPN
Delaware, the state where all Corporate Charters go to be coddled and enshrined. Delaware is known for its lax Corporate regulations and the Courts who love them. Considering Delaware's franchise taxes (Incorporation Fees) supply about one-fifth of the state's revenue, there's never a Corporate Charter that's not welcome in Delaware.
Delaware, a state only 100 miles from Washington, DC, with easy access to Lobbyists and Legislatures.
I have lived in Boca Raton for 22 years, I am under 65, a life-long Democrat and my simple question to you is this:
What The Fuck have you ever done of me?
You are a corporate shill, a sit-on-the-fence, bought and paid for sellout! By the way, how was that Shuttle ride? I can't even afford to go to Disney-freaking-world and you play games with my future!
FU!
Carpy is another so-called dem who needs to go!
Perhaps something more staunch in taste?
What next, will some of the conservative Dems start joining in with the right winger fanatics in decrying the Presidents false bith certificate?
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