free drugs for senior citizens. another vote buying scheme?

[rainstorm]

was there really a need for this program? were seniors dropping dead on the streets? why not have everything free for everybody?


FREE DRUGS FOR WIZENED CITIZENS
Step by step … here is how it’s going to work. Print this and safe it. You can show it to your children or grandchildren to help explain why the government is taking 60% of everything they earn.

Democrats propose a grand new spending program. Senior citizens are going to be able to use someone else’s money to buy their prescription drugs. Senior citizens pledge their electoral support to Democrats as thanks.
Republicans start chanting “me too!” and get on board with the free drugs for old folks plan, hoping that at least some of the wrinkled class will vote for them.
Senior citizens spend an average of $650 a year on prescription drugs right now. As soon as the drug benefit is added to Medicare the pharmaceutical companies will start marketing many more drugs to old folks. “Ask your doctor about Noasital.”
Seniors will rush off to their Medicare doctors and say “Tell me about Noasital.” They’ll insist on a prescription for Noaiital, and any other drug they happen to see advertised, and many doctors will be all too willing to go along.
The average yearly spending by seniors on prescription drugs will skyrocket from $650 a year to thousands of dollars a year.
In short order the projections for spending on the new prescription drug benefit will have been left in the dust. What was sold to us as a $40 billion a year program will be costing well over $100 billion a year .. and going nowhere but up. Politicians and bureaucrats will start expressing their “concerns” and a fix will be demanded.
The “fix” to rising spending on drugs for wrinkled class will be to put limits on what Medicare will pay for certain prescription drugs, just as Medicare has already put limits on what will be paid for certain medical services.
Pharmaceutical companies will find that they aren’t making any money on selling these drugs to seniors because of the Medicare price controls. In fact, they may find that they are actually losing money. To compensate for these lost profits the pharmaceutical companies will simply increase prices for these and other drugs to their non-Medicare patients.
As the prices of prescription drugs for non-Medicare Americans go up, so will the price of health insurance coverage. Insurance companies aren’t going to suffer these increased costs without passing them off to the insured. Basically this is the same thing that has happened in many other areas of health care. Medicare institutes price controls, health care providers make up the difference by charging other patients more, health insurance companies raise premiums … and so on.
As prescription prices and health insurance premiums increase for non-Medicare Americans, so will the demand for politicians to step in and do something. Politicians, always hungry for both votes and power, will be all-too-happy to oblige.
Politicians will start demagoguing drug companies. They will be called “greedy” and will be accused of “profiteering” and “exploiting” the frail health of our precious senior citizens.
After a short period of scare-mongering the politicians will vote to institute price controls on the pharmaceutical companies. Politicians will tell us that they are doing this to reign in these greedy corporate monsters who are becoming obscenely rich on the backs of sick Americans.
With price controls the earnings figures for pharmaceutical companies will go into the toilet.
As earnings go down pharmaceutical companies will have less and less to spend on research and development for new drugs. Research into ways to treat disease will show down and, eventually, will become the province of government.
Government will be the eventual beneficiary of this mess as the masses clamor for more and more government solutions to these problems that are perceived to be the fault of the private sector.

from http://www.boortz.com
this is exactly how the program will go. more and more money will be confiscated from people to go for drugs seniors dont even need. this is an open ended program that will grow exponentially every year. i feel sorry for a person just startin out in the workforce. soon, like boortz says, 60% of a persons income will be confiscated.

[wx247]

Just a side note... is there anything you can do to make your "' marks to keep from causing weird things to happen? It makes it hard to read. I didn't know if you were aware of it.

[rainstorm]

Just a side note... is there anything you can do to make your "' marks to keep from causing weird things to happen? It makes it hard to read. I didn't know if you were aware of it.

it isnt there in the original articale

[rainstorm]

FREE DRUGS FOR WIZENED CITIZENS
Step by step … here is how it’s going to work. Print this and safe it. You can show it to your children or grandchildren to help explain why the government is taking 60% of everything they earn.

Democrats propose a grand new spending program. Senior citizens are going to be able to use someone else’s money to buy their prescription drugs. Senior citizens pledge their electoral support to Democrats as thanks.
Republicans start chanting “me too!” and get on board with the free drugs for old folks plan, hoping that at least some of the wrinkled class will vote for them.
Senior citizens spend an average of $650 a year on prescription drugs right now. As soon as the drug benefit is added to Medicare the pharmaceutical companies will start marketing many more drugs to old folks. “Ask your doctor about Noasital.”
Seniors will rush off to their Medicare doctors and say “Tell me about Noasital.” They’ll insist on a prescription for Noaiital, and any other drug they happen to see advertised, and many doctors will be all too willing to go along.
The average yearly spending by seniors on prescription drugs will skyrocket from $650 a year to thousands of dollars a year.
In short order the projections for spending on the new prescription drug benefit will have been left in the dust. What was sold to us as a $40 billion a year program will be costing well over $100 billion a year .. and going nowhere but up. Politicians and bureaucrats will start expressing their “concerns” and a fix will be demanded.
The “fix” to rising spending on drugs for wrinkled class will be to put limits on what Medicare will pay for certain prescription drugs, just as Medicare has already put limits on what will be paid for certain medical services.
Pharmaceutical companies will find that they aren’t making any money on selling these drugs to seniors because of the Medicare price controls. In fact, they may find that they are actually losing money. To compensate for these lost profits the pharmaceutical companies will simply increase prices for these and other drugs to their non-Medicare patients.
As the prices of prescription drugs for non-Medicare Americans go up, so will the price of health insurance coverage. Insurance companies aren’t going to suffer these increased costs without passing them off to the insured. Basically this is the same thing that has happened in many other areas of health care. Medicare institutes price controls, health care providers make up the difference by charging other patients more, health insurance companies raise premiums … and so on.
As prescription prices and health insurance premiums increase for non-Medicare Americans, so will the demand for politicians to step in and do something. Politicians, always hungry for both votes and power, will be all-too-happy to oblige.
Politicians will start demagoguing drug companies. They will be called “greedy” and will be accused of “profiteering” and “exploiting” the frail health of our precious senior citizens.
After a short period of scare-mongering the politicians will vote to institute price controls on the pharmaceutical companies. Politicians will tell us that they are doing this to reign in these greedy corporate monsters who are becoming obscenely rich on the backs of sick Americans.
With price controls the earnings figures for pharmaceutical companies will go into the toilet.
As earnings go down pharmaceutical companies will have less and less to spend on research and development for new drugs. Research into ways to treat disease will show down and, eventually, will become the province of government.
Government will be the eventual beneficiary of this mess as the masses clamor for more and more government solutions to these problems that are perceived to be the fault of the private sector.

[wx247]

Thanks... I didn't care, just didn't know if you were aware of what was happening.

[rainstorm]

our new national motto:

"Ask not what you can do for your country ... ask what your country can force someone else to do for you."

[streetsoldier]

rainstorm,

I realize your intentions are good...but, were it not for the beneficence of the drug companies who arrange "samples" for my clinic to provide my Rx free, my medications-per-month bill would be in excess of $350.00....a sum I'd never be able to afford on my own.

As it is, I have thrown away repeated mail from AARP asking me to join...said organization supports a host of legislation (gun control/confiscation is but one) that I oppose adamantly.

[coriolis]

Rainstorm, I added the Boortz site to my favorites and will add it to my reading list. There's a great number of voices out there, and as responsible citizens, we must sift through them.

[Aslkahuna]

and while I am better off than many and worse off than many financially, I am fortunate right now in that my annuity (which I contributed to) and small Social Security give me about $30k a year. My health Insurance pays a goodly portion of my medical bills plus Rx and I'm lucky in not yet needing large quantities of (expensive) meds just yet though that may not always be the case. The problem is, though, that there are many Seniors NOT as well off as I am financially who need great quantities of expensive medications and face the prospects of either having their medication or buying food and paying bills-what would you propose doing for them? Letting them die because you don't want to help them? There is one major fact that is important in all of this and that is, Seniors VOTE whereas young people do not and in this Country if you don't vote, you don't count period and have no room for complaint. I DO vote and so therefore expect that my concerns will be heard more clearly than those of one who is too lazy to spend a few minutes at the Polls.

Steve

[Lindaloo]

I can relate to this. My parents are elderly but are in good health. My Mom has high blood pressure. She was also put on a drug called Ticlid. This costs 100 bucks a month plus blood pressure medicine. She needs the ticlid because it is a stroke preventative. They are also a member of AARP and could careless what it stands for. It helps them with medicine that Medicare does not cover. Plus they receive discounts with AARP. They have earned it.

It is about time they get free medicine honored by Medicare!!! Some of them can't afford to buy the medicines they need to exist. President Bush also made Medicare and Social Security promises while on the campaign trail. It is now time for him to live up to that promise. His promise also included a promise to the senior citizens about prescription drugs.

[streetsoldier]

Lindaloo,

Not everyone is willing to exchange principles for benefits...besides, I do not have the "disposable income" to join any organizations at this time, even if I COULD leave my beliefs in the closet. Which I won't. Ever.

[Lindaloo]

I understand that well Bill. I was just letting you know that I can relate to all this. Hopefully when I get to my golden age there will still be social security and medicare and for my children as well. If promises keep getting broken then all my 401K will be used for medical expenses and medications if needed.

Also my parents have plenty of principles, but you do what you have to do.

[Stephanie]

Seniors SHOULD NOT have to choose whether to eat or buy the drugs that they need to survive. That goes for anyone that's on disability, etc. I also believe that goes for health care itself.

I only hope that the people that do not think that we should be taxed to "pay" for others to live NEVER, EVER have to be put in that position.

[streetsoldier]

Steph,

I have had to make that ugly decision more than a few times...obviously, I opted for the Rx (serum levels in bloodstream have to be maintained). To compensate, I lay in bed for weeks...the longer I could sleep, the less I had to pay attention to how famished I was.

That cycle continues....but I DO see to it that coppertop gets HIS meals.

[Lindaloo]

Seniors SHOULD NOT have to choose whether to eat or buy the drugs that they need to survive. That goes for anyone that's on disability, etc. I also believe that goes for health care itself.

I only hope that the people that do not think that we should be taxed to "pay" for others to live NEVER, EVER have to be put in that position.

THANK YOU Steph... that is what I was trying to say in the first part of your post. That applies especially to those with disabilities. If my money is to be taxed to help the elderly and the disabled then count me in. I hope one day the next generation will do this for me as well.