Bush to Veto Medicare Bill

But so much of our economy depends on the sick and suffering. We would not want to impact our economy now would we....
 
by reimbusing...the lower prices for the pill bill insurance companies that are covering the seniors... I thought? This helps the cost of pill insurance that the gvt is paying for the seniors to private companies go down in price I thought? Isn't that how it is suppose to work with the negotiated lower pill prices?
 
uscitizen said:
So the government stockpiles and dispenses the drugs, billing the supplemential medicare/medicaid insurance companies ? Yeah right :D

Hmm last I rercall hearing a liscenced DR was required to write prescriptions for drugs which seem to be filled at the local drug stores from what I have seen. and I help a couple of folks that are older than I deal with their medicare stuff.
Well the VA does provide drugs from their pharmacy, but I think that is the extent of the govt dispensing drugs.
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Like I said, I was talking about direct negotiation.

There is nothing in reality that is remotely like what I was stating. I said, "Would it be right?" not "Is it right?"

It was a hypothetical argument that mixed what Topspin was saying with the actual idea of socialism. Would it be right for the government to be a direct supplier? I do not believe it would be.

However it does lend itself to the idea that such negotiating is directly in competition with insurance companies. Would it be better to contract with them as well and allow them to continue negotiating the best price for themselves? Or have we entered the time where the government must be the competitor?
 
uscitizen said:
But so much of our economy depends on the sick and suffering. We would not want to impact our economy now would we....
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We already do by not paying for Illegal Immigrants and forcing care we raise the price of all healthcare to those who have insurance as well as those who pay directly....
 
the government's job is to protect and aid the consumer aka citizen.
The health care system is pretty bad and will get worse. by 2010 it will cost a corporation 30K to provide health insurance for a person whose salary is 30k.
Something has to be done.
and not just on our side. Each year infections caught in hospitals cost this country over tiwce as much as all medical malpractice suits combined. the main reason for the infections, poor sanitary practices in hospitals.
 
So, we should get the government, who can't figure out how to balance a budget and pretend that sucking the SS dry and projections means an actual "balanced" budget to run it all for us?

Just because the cost will be hidden in taxes doesn't make it an improvement.
 
And lets not forget the supplemental war appropriations billions that don't even show up on the budget.....

Repos are so eager to cook the books.
Kenny boy must have taught doublewe how to cook ;)
 
the goverment doesn't get oil cheaper than the market price, not the same as price fixing against the pharma shareholders.
 
Topspin said:
the goverment doesn't get oil cheaper than the market price, not the same as price fixing against the pharma shareholders.
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No the government waits till the price of oil is high before repleneshing the national reserves ;)

But what has that to do with negotiating how much a government run insurance company will pay the drug companies for drugs ?

does anyone know if the VA negotiates drug prices with the drug companies ?
 
Shareholders are gamblers anyway. They signed on for the risk, for the possible benefit of making a lot of money.
 
uscitizen said:
No the government waits till the price of oil is high before repleneshing the national reserves ;)

But what has that to do with negotiating how much a government run insurance company will pay the drug companies for drugs ?

does anyone know if the VA negotiates drug prices with the drug companies ?
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does anyone know if the VA negotiates drug prices with the drug companies ?


Yeah, they do.
 
uscitizen said:
So a prescident has already been set that the government does such things.
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lol. Did you really just use the VA as an example of a good government program? Man, if nationalized healthcare would act like the VA then I want NOTHING ever to do with it. You just made me vote against it even more vehemently than before!
 
Going off on a ranting tangent there Damo ? Lots of veterans would be dead without the cheap/free meds from the VA.
 
Damocles said:
lol. Did you really just use the VA as an example of a good government program? Man, if nationalized healthcare would act like the VA then I want NOTHING ever to do with it. You just made me vote against it even more vehemently than before!
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My stepdad's VA drugs cost much less than my Mom's Medicare Part D drugs.
 
Boy! people like Damo are really going to cry in future years when more of the long term costs of the Iraq war becomes painfully apparent.
 
uscitizen said:
Boy! people like Damo are really going to cry in future years when more of the long term costs of the Iraq war becomes painfully apparent.
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No, I long ago got used to people who like big government spending my money. Crying won't happen.

Now, subsidized drugs do not mean that they are "cheap". You tend to continue in the vein that it is some sort of magic loss of cost because they are subsidized, it is far from that truth. Now, cost aside. Many of the Veterans that I know and work with really understand how government run healthcare can be a negative. As they wait for care that those with private insurance never wait for...

Honestly, putting this forth as some sort of magical amulet because the end-user cost is cheap is not the same as actually calculating real cost. What does this cost us in the end and are we getting what we pay for?

Remember, just because C&H sugar is cheap at the cash register, doesn't mean we aren't paying more for it than we would for Cuban sugar it just means the real cost is hidden in the subsidies.
 
Too many Veterans and not enough money in the program. And it is getting worse. If the Republicans really supported the Veterans....
 
uscitizen said:
Remember now, the war costs do not end till the last of the wounded/surviving veterans are dead.
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Remember now, I was against this whole shebang. You preach to the choir...

You act as if I supported an undeclared war, that is not true.
 
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