BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Bush Drug Plan Is Great Way To Rid U.S. Of Overmedicated Fossils
By MANIFESTO JOE
Readers of this blog have no doubt heard the bad news about the Bush Medicare drug plan. But, sometimes policies that seem stupid and damaging on the surface can have unintended positive consequences.
It's time, fellow progressives, to consider the upside of Bush's hapless reform attempt. Here are some points to ponder:
Maybe Adam Smith was right, too. Good things really can result from less-than-noble motives. George W. Bush, in what seemed a bogus scheme to further enrich health insurance companies, may have unintentionally saved America.
MANIFESTO JOE IS AN UNDERGROUND WRITER LIVING IN TEXAS.
Readers of this blog have no doubt heard the bad news about the Bush Medicare drug plan. But, sometimes policies that seem stupid and damaging on the surface can have unintended positive consequences.
It's time, fellow progressives, to consider the upside of Bush's hapless reform attempt. Here are some points to ponder:
- It's been reported that because of blunders and red tape, some ailing senior citizens haven't been getting the prescription drugs they need to stay alive. Also, the prices of some drugs have gone up.
Remember Dick Lamm, Colorado's "Governor Gloom," who in 1984 stirred controversy by saying that sick old people have a "duty to die ..."? Lamm, a Democrat, saw in our overburdened health care system a serious threat to America's fiscal future.
George W. Bush has unintentionally given us the answer. If sick, elderly people can't get or afford life-extending drugs, this will force them to, as Lamm suggested, "... die and get out of the way." When enough of these high-maintenance geezers finally have their fatal heart attacks, strokes and cancers, think of the burden that will be lifted from the shoulders of the young!
Health care will be more affordable; Medicare and Medicaid claims will shrink; the decrease of the surface population will curb environmental damage and mean more food and water for the rest of us. Social Security will be less stressed as life expectancy decreases. Hospital beds will be plentiful, and competition for folks who have pulses will drive prices down further. Those cheesy oldies stations will vanish from the airwaves forever. The national debt will disappear, too.
I've got to hand it to George Bush. He's going to save Social Security in a way that would have done Thomas Malthus proud. - There are reports that people in assisted living facilities are being arbitrarily enrolled with big insurers like Humana, and then they almost have to get an act of Congress to actually enroll in the plans they chose.
Hey, I'm all for choice. But it's for people who are competent to choose. A lot of people in assisted living are too senile to remember whether it's time to take the red pill or the white one. That's why they're there. Maybe they won't get the plans they chose, but at least they'll be enrolled in something. There's a risk that a feeble-minded person will forget and miss the May 15 deadline.
Under Bush, Medicare is making all assisted-living codgers get signed up, and therefore they won't get hit with that nasty "drug tax." If a person can't look out for his or her own interests, it's great to know that Humana, and our president, will. - Americans are overmedicated anyway. Especially the Medicare-qualifying fossils. The pharmaceutical companies are making huge profits pushing pricey pills for everything from a runny nose to toenail fungus. IMS Health, a pharmaceutical-consulting company, reported in 2005 that the number of prescriptions had grown by two-thirds in just a decade.
And, people are forgetting that all medications have side effects -- even these new, high-tech ones. Sometimes, especially them. Each year, tens of thousands of Americans are killed by adverse reactions to medications. And there are even more health care debacles in the making. Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Lipitor are being passed out like Halloween candy to millions. I tried the stuff at my doctor's urging, and after one 10 mg. dose, I had so much mental fog that my supervisor at work accused me of being drunk.
So, people with high cholesterol -- please do us all a favor. Lay off the Egg McMuffins, the Ben and Jerry's, and the Starbucks double mocha lattes. Get some exercise. You'll lose weight, save money, and the cost of my group insurance will go down. - The Bush administration may have stumbled upon an ingenious way to curb lawsuit abuse. With fewer people taking potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals, there will be fewer class actions. No more dirty old men claiming Viagra made them blind. (There's a theory that some of these old guys may be taking that stuff alone. Hey, old fella -- remember that hysterical warning from your mom after she walked in on you admiring that hot bondage shot of Bettie Page? What if, at long last, she was right?)
Maybe Adam Smith was right, too. Good things really can result from less-than-noble motives. George W. Bush, in what seemed a bogus scheme to further enrich health insurance companies, may have unintentionally saved America.
MANIFESTO JOE IS AN UNDERGROUND WRITER LIVING IN TEXAS.
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Pharm companies have for a long time argued that they need high ("market force based") drug prices in order to stay competitive. A close look at reality, though, dispels this notion. In fact, U.S. drug companies spend twice on marketing and advertising what they do on R&D. In fact, many of the key breakthough in the drug industry have originated from overseas (Viagra, for example, was invented in Britain).
# posted by 
: 6:27 PM
: 6:27 PM
I applaud your blog,i took zyprexa which was ineffective for my condition and gave me diabetes.
{Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco}
I have a victims support page against Eli Lilly for it's defective Zyprexa product causing my diabetes.--Daniel Haszard www.zyprexa-victims.com
{Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco}
I have a victims support page against Eli Lilly for it's defective Zyprexa product causing my diabetes.--Daniel Haszard www.zyprexa-victims.com
im a fond bush disliksis but one day i thought maybe bushes moves may not be so bad maybe he does think what the world may hold for our childeren maybe gas price went up to keep these americans at home with there families alittle more americans probley spend more time on usless driving then thay acomplish in there life i mean you cant build all the highways with15 lanes maybe he does care about pollution and the ozone we need to try spending the same and not wasting so much its like were addictid thats y it cost so much.to conclude with the war situation maybe its a benificle sacrifice they wont be in office for ever least the least the people still to come inhabbit iraq will not be opresed like the prev hopefulley the gole is world peace and theres only onr way to get it its to fight for it we are the future and we need a good hand to stay in thank u
Tig. CA
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Tig. CA
# posted by : 1:42 AM
: 1:42 AM Links to this post:
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