Insurance company executives and their Republican Party errand boys must be deeply disappointed, since the proposed change screw far fewer people than these guys are screwing now.

MAKE MEDICARE/MEDICAID THE SINGLE PAYER, call Pelosi @1-202-225-0100. Insurance corporations are insolvent without TAXPAYER life support.

You could circulate a petition with a list of progressive demands like, nationalizing banks/the fed, writing down mortgages, reinstating glass-steagall, pass the tobin tax etc. If you had Stiglitz, Krugman and Kucinich behind it there are thousands ready to protest-combine it w/universal healthcare!! If health insurance should be in the public sector why not other industries?
The libertarians say govt caused the recession w/cheap credit and bailouts. They want a gold standard w/no fractional reserves but given the limited supply of gold, wouldn't it require fractional reserves?
I'd also like to know if you agree with Michael Hudson on a single land-tax.
Thanks.

Single payer is cheaper than all the other plans.

GOLD or no gold, print ALL the money YOU want. It STILL won't be enough to save AIG's ass.

The "plan" that is emerging may be the most expensive one of all.

Mandatory insurance is a huge giveaway to the insurance companies and health care providers who no longer have to worry about being stiffed.

The problem is that neither the insurers nor the providers have any incentive to reduce exhorbitant prices. Like finance, health care and insurance have disencentives that will continue to defeat efforts to reign in costs.

The single payer option is the only method of introducing competion into this monopolist dominated market.

this deal with Pharma is complete b.s. compromise:

1. a month ago the House was talking about completely getting rid of the donut hole.

2. 6 months ago we were talking about what really needs to be done, which to not be paying any more for drugs than the cheapest INTERNATIONAL market rates out there: American should not be paying any more for the same medications as whatever is the cheapest rate for the given medication in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Dept of Defence, Veterans Administration, 340B Drug program, Wal-Mart, etc.

the pharma press release being touted here claims that pharma made a "deal" and talks vaguely about discounts on brand name products for seniors in medicare part d donut hole gap

deal sounds like lobbyist talk

what was the quid for this quo?

what does pharma think it gained for their big gesture

is baucus capable of making such a "deal"

After I took early retirement in 2002, I started doing volunteer community service work down here in SW VA. The last couple of years, I have been helping seniors and the disabled navigate the wonders of Medicare Part D, etc.

Jesus Christ on a skateboard, what a mess.

First of all, those great deals on drugs last only until about $2,700 is spent on drugs overall. Then the infamous donut hole kicks in. Then the lucky ducky spends about $4350 of her OWN money on drugs before getting catastrophic coverage, which is really cheap. If she happens to be very low income, she will get government assistance. If she isn't, well, tough luck. I have folks in the last category living on social security and nothing else who fall into the donut hole. They spend 6 or more months a years spending $500 plus on drugs alone PLUS the Part D premiums PLUS the part B premiums ($96.40) PLUS Medi-gap policies if they are lucky enough to be able to "afford" them.

Now many drug companies have patient assistance programs for brand name drugs but ya gotta KNOW about all this or meet up with somebdy who does. (Me, for example). I have had folks paying $800+ a month for drugs alone before I could steer them to a drug assistance program.

MEDICARE FOR EVERYONE - ROFLMAO!

Plus, for disabled under 65 on Medicare it is almost impossible to get a Medi-gap policy for under $500-700 a month in VA.

What I am truly afraid of is that we will see a rerun of 401(k). When it started I was skeptical. First who really knows enough about Wall Street to be a good investor? Next to nobody who isn't a WS pro. Second, most working stiffs don't have a lot of money to invest so not much there at retirement. And finally, won't this be a very seductive temptation for companies to drop defined benefit and go straight 401(k)? Well, yeah! AND THEY DID!

Likewise for health insurance. The government plan will likely cover more people but not the way the best plan do now. We can't afford it, face it. So won't companies be tempted to drop their better coverage for the gov option? I'd say yes.

So we'll end up with health care more or less like public education. Could be pretty good or wretched depending on where you live and the rich can pay for private service no matter what. Who gets screwed? The middle class.

Then, the Prez sez he wants to legalize the 12-20 million illegal aliens now in the US and their immediate families. Surprise! Even more instant uninsured! Not to mention the family reunification which includes sick old parents, siblings and their immediate families, etc - mostly unskilled workers with major needs for assisted services and little ability to pay the taxes needed to support it.

Then what?

A "commitment" from the industry to lower costs. Deja vu?

A "commitment" from the industry to lower costs....

Yes, patient renter, I read all about that. Here are some questions I'd like answers to:

The deal mentions brand name drugs. Will any generics be covered? Some of them can be quite expensive.

Will the half off brand name drugs deal make Medicare Part D clients ineligible for the drug company "free or cheap drugs" deals?

What is to keep them from deciding a couple of years out that they no longer want to play nice? Can they then go back to being the pirates they currently are?

Look, after a couple of years doing the Medicare Part D thing as a volunteer - nothing in it for me but to see a bunch of older and disabled folks get their medicine - I have some suggestions that will cost next to nothing and bring drug costs down:

1- Break the connection between Big Pharma and the medical professionals. Doctors and other medical professionals will no longer be allowed to take ANYTHING from a drug saleman. Not a pen, not a dinner, and especially not a trip to a swanky resort and an honorarium to deliver a paper, likely prepared by somebody working for the company involved. Anybody who believes that doctors and other professionals aren't swayed by all these things is naive in the extreme.

2- Bargain - HARD - with the drug companies for lower prices because we are "buying" - or subsidizing - millions of prescriptions.

3- Grant patents only on drugs that actually are new or are significantly better. No more new patents for a minor adjustment in an existing drug just to enable the drug company to make a killing on a new brand name when its old brand name goes generic.

4- Set up some kind of electronic system so that a GP or family doctor (or his assistant, nurse, etc) can monitor what Mrs. O'Malley is actually taking. We find some seniors apparently taking drugs to counter-balance or treat SYMPTOMS or side effects caused by other drugs they are taking. That pain that Mrs O'Malley is experiencing and taking some powerful drugs to combat is actually being caused by another drug she is taking. Maybe, just maybe, she'd be better off without that drug, huh? Not to mention the pain-killer?

5- Train more nurse practitioners and doctors' assistants AND LET THEM HANDLE THE THINGS THEY ARE CAPABLE OF DOING. I see a NP instead of a doctor. I couldn't pick the doctors in her group out of a line-up. The only thing that I can see that I'm missing is the God-Complex. THAT I can live without.

Article in WSJ 6/23 sez that the thinking of the drug companies is that if they give half off in the donut hole, seniors are less likely to switch to generics. Now that sounds like the Big Pharma I'm used to. If they get half for their brand name drugs, they are still making a killing.

D Flinchum, it sounds like we have a common goal. who are you working with? alone? SCHIP? send me an e-mail.twintuitive@gmail.com i'm in Northwest VA, and we could talk about some great ideas to work together. it sounds like we are on the same page, and i have some strategies i could share with you to help people.

Saddest thing about this deal is that it isn't even a deal. In the states, it has been the drug-makers' M.O. to promise concessions while the political heat was on and, then, re-neg once it had cooled off. We won't even get the $80 billion. We got chump change and Obama looked like the chump. A pity.