Republicans Side With Big Pharma Over Seniors, Medicare

[Dana7360]

This story is absolutely insane, demonstrating just how bought-off the entire Republican Party is. The Congressional Budget Office made a mistake. It estimated that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 would save Medicare $7.7 billion over the next decade in a change it made to a Medicare Part D drug discount program. That was a $4 billion error, in Medicare's favor, and also in favor of Medicare beneficiaries facing high prescription costs. So the changes will save Medicare—meaning the taxpayers—$11.8 billion in the next two years.

It means drug companies have to offer deeper discounts to enrollees who fall in the so-called “donut hole,” or the gap created when an enrollee's prescription costs exceed the coverage limits in their Part D plan. Drug companies have to offer those enrollees a 70 percent discount on drugs, up from 50 percent before the budget bill passed. So drug companies pay more, Medicare enrollees pay less, and it is saving taxpayers money.

The unbelievable, and yet totally predictable, part of this is that Republicans are coming down on the side of big pharma! Not just congressional Republicans, but "Republican think tanks, advocacy organizations and consulting firms." They've actually launched what is being called a "grassroots" effort to void the deeper discount in the law. Because sure, grassroots Republican seniors are going to be really up in arms over saving money on their prescription drugs. Of course it's PhRMA that's behind this.

They claim, as Daniel Seaton, a spokesman for Biotechnology Innovation Organization says, that it is "Forcing companies to divert billions of dollars from the research lab to bail out insurance companies," and that it "will stifle innovation while doing little to save costs for Medicare beneficiaries." This from the industry that is raking in the tax cuts that Congress passed last year.

Just five big pharmaceuticals are going to save a combined $6 billion in 2018 alone. Another 10 are going to save $76 billion total in taxes on offshore revenue. But they're fighting $4 billion they'll lose over the next 10 years when they'll more than reap that back every single year.

Here's some free advice for them: spend some of that tax windfall on research and development instead of executive salaries and gifts to shareholders—and leave the discounts for Medicare patients alone.

Republicans side with big pharma over seniors, Medicare

I don't find it unbelievable at all.

These are the same politicians who created the donut hole in the first place.

These same politicians made it illegal for the government to negotiate lower drug prices.

These are the same people who believe it's right to pass laws that allow insurance companies to deny coverage to anyone who was ever sick in their lives so that they will never be able to have insurance or health care again. Without any alternative to offer those people. Just an early unnecessary death.

I'm not surprised at all nor do I find it unbelievable.

It does disgust and sicken me though.

 

[Harry Dresden]

This story is absolutely insane, demonstrating just how bought-off the entire Republican Party is. The Congressional Budget Office made a mistake. It estimated that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 would save Medicare $7.7 billion over the next decade in a change it made to a Medicare Part D drug discount program. That was a $4 billion error, in Medicare's favor, and also in favor of Medicare beneficiaries facing high prescription costs. So the changes will save Medicare—meaning the taxpayers—$11.8 billion in the next two years.

It means drug companies have to offer deeper discounts to enrollees who fall in the so-called “donut hole,” or the gap created when an enrollee's prescription costs exceed the coverage limits in their Part D plan. Drug companies have to offer those enrollees a 70 percent discount on drugs, up from 50 percent before the budget bill passed. So drug companies pay more, Medicare enrollees pay less, and it is saving taxpayers money.

The unbelievable, and yet totally predictable, part of this is that Republicans are coming down on the side of big pharma! Not just congressional Republicans, but "Republican think tanks, advocacy organizations and consulting firms." They've actually launched what is being called a "grassroots" effort to void the deeper discount in the law. Because sure, grassroots Republican seniors are going to be really up in arms over saving money on their prescription drugs. Of course it's PhRMA that's behind this.

They claim, as Daniel Seaton, a spokesman for Biotechnology Innovation Organization says, that it is "Forcing companies to divert billions of dollars from the research lab to bail out insurance companies," and that it "will stifle innovation while doing little to save costs for Medicare beneficiaries." This from the industry that is raking in the tax cuts that Congress passed last year.

Just five big pharmaceuticals are going to save a combined $6 billion in 2018 alone. Another 10 are going to save $76 billion total in taxes on offshore revenue. But they're fighting $4 billion they'll lose over the next 10 years when they'll more than reap that back every single year.

Here's some free advice for them: spend some of that tax windfall on research and development instead of executive salaries and gifts to shareholders—and leave the discounts for Medicare patients alone.

Republicans side with big pharma over seniors, Medicare

I bet you actually believe the Dems aren't just as firmly in their pocket..........

That would be a bad bet. The number one polling issue with voters right now is healthcare. Premiums, drug prices, and pre existing conditions. You can now add hospital closings in red states to that list.

Republicans control the government.

I bet you think the voters will be blaming the party not in power.

Then you're a clueless partisan hack who doesn't know how DC really works (most don't). Of course the voters will blame the party in power, duh, that's politics and the highly emotive brain dead constituency.

It's very simple.

You are either for the Medicare system

Or you are not for the Medicare system

If you are for the Medicare system, then you are for whatever funding mechanism, and regulations, that make it functional, and affordable.

Everything else is bullshit.

except that the democrats have their own masters who have them in their pockets...

 

[Ringel05]

Ready To Join The Resistance?

Then you're a clueless partisan hack who doesn't know how DC really works (most don't). Of course the voters will blame the party in power, duh, that's politics and the highly emotive brain dead constituency.

It's very simple.

You are either for the Medicare system

Or you are not for the Medicare system

If you are for the Medicare system, then you are for whatever funding mechanism, and regulations, that make it functional, and affordable.

Everything else is bullshit.

If you say so.......
I spent 35 years in the DC metro area, work on the inside with first the Dems then finally the Repubs, there's a reason I'm neither any longer, all the dirty dealing, dirty tricks, bull shit political maneuvering and outright lies from both sides made sure of that. So if you want to continue to be willfully naive more power to ya.

I mostly agree. The Democratic Party primarily exists to legitimize the Republican Party. Both are shit and always have been for the most part. However, there are simple facts to acknowledge. Far more Democrats, liberals, progressives, and/or leftists support Medicare For All / Single Payer health care. Republicans oppose it. Look it up. That's the only reason we don't already have it.

Far more Democrats give lip service support, look at bills presented over the decades that never had a snowball's chance in hell of being passed. Those sponsoring the bills also knew those bills would go nowhere so why did they do it? Two reasons, one to placate the base and two is for political ammunition come election time. Of course the Republicans oppose it in general, ideology + politics = reelection/beating out an opponent incumbent. Lots of moderate Repubs support it but know they would loose their party's support come election time.

Again, I vastly agree. But polls now show a 33 to 51% of the public favoring Medicare for All and growing... It's coming.. one way or another..

I don't have a problem with it, what will happen will happen.

 

[my2¢]

Historically Republicans align with business and owners while Democrats stood with labor and consumers. As labor issues have resolved themselves for the most part over the last 50-60 years we've seen the Democrats lose their party base. So I don't see anything bad in the Republicans' stance, it is being loyal to their party's ideology.

 

[deanrd]

This story is absolutely insane, demonstrating just how bought-off the entire Republican Party is. The Congressional Budget Office made a mistake. It estimated that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 would save Medicare $7.7 billion over the next decade in a change it made to a Medicare Part D drug discount program. That was a $4 billion error, in Medicare's favor, and also in favor of Medicare beneficiaries facing high prescription costs. So the changes will save Medicare—meaning the taxpayers—$11.8 billion in the next two years.

It means drug companies have to offer deeper discounts to enrollees who fall in the so-called “donut hole,” or the gap created when an enrollee's prescription costs exceed the coverage limits in their Part D plan. Drug companies have to offer those enrollees a 70 percent discount on drugs, up from 50 percent before the budget bill passed. So drug companies pay more, Medicare enrollees pay less, and it is saving taxpayers money.

The unbelievable, and yet totally predictable, part of this is that Republicans are coming down on the side of big pharma! Not just congressional Republicans, but "Republican think tanks, advocacy organizations and consulting firms." They've actually launched what is being called a "grassroots" effort to void the deeper discount in the law. Because sure, grassroots Republican seniors are going to be really up in arms over saving money on their prescription drugs. Of course it's PhRMA that's behind this.

They claim, as Daniel Seaton, a spokesman for Biotechnology Innovation Organization says, that it is "Forcing companies to divert billions of dollars from the research lab to bail out insurance companies," and that it "will stifle innovation while doing little to save costs for Medicare beneficiaries." This from the industry that is raking in the tax cuts that Congress passed last year.

Just five big pharmaceuticals are going to save a combined $6 billion in 2018 alone. Another 10 are going to save $76 billion total in taxes on offshore revenue. But they're fighting $4 billion they'll lose over the next 10 years when they'll more than reap that back every single year.

Here's some free advice for them: spend some of that tax windfall on research and development instead of executive salaries and gifts to shareholders—and leave the discounts for Medicare patients alone.

Republicans side with big pharma over seniors, Medicare

I bet you actually believe the Dems aren't just as firmly in their pocket..........

They aren't.

I'll tell you why. Democrats are coalition party. Republicans are 90% white.
Republicans terrorize their base. Propagandizing them into believing all blacks are dangerous. That Mexicans are rapists. That Muslims want to blow up their church. It's a wonder Republicans aren't too terrified to step outdoors. They elect these monsters into office thinking they are being kept "safe" from all these dangers.

The Democratic leadership is made up of several different individuals.

It's like with Al Franken. When a picture was discovered of him holding his hands above a woman's breasts, it was over. He was forced to resign.

Trump is on tape saying he had great fun sexually assaulting women. They made him president.

The difference between the two parties.

 

[John Shaw]

Good.

 

[Ringel05]

This story is absolutely insane, demonstrating just how bought-off the entire Republican Party is. The Congressional Budget Office made a mistake. It estimated that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 would save Medicare $7.7 billion over the next decade in a change it made to a Medicare Part D drug discount program. That was a $4 billion error, in Medicare's favor, and also in favor of Medicare beneficiaries facing high prescription costs. So the changes will save Medicare—meaning the taxpayers—$11.8 billion in the next two years.

It means drug companies have to offer deeper discounts to enrollees who fall in the so-called “donut hole,” or the gap created when an enrollee's prescription costs exceed the coverage limits in their Part D plan. Drug companies have to offer those enrollees a 70 percent discount on drugs, up from 50 percent before the budget bill passed. So drug companies pay more, Medicare enrollees pay less, and it is saving taxpayers money.

The unbelievable, and yet totally predictable, part of this is that Republicans are coming down on the side of big pharma! Not just congressional Republicans, but "Republican think tanks, advocacy organizations and consulting firms." They've actually launched what is being called a "grassroots" effort to void the deeper discount in the law. Because sure, grassroots Republican seniors are going to be really up in arms over saving money on their prescription drugs. Of course it's PhRMA that's behind this.

They claim, as Daniel Seaton, a spokesman for Biotechnology Innovation Organization says, that it is "Forcing companies to divert billions of dollars from the research lab to bail out insurance companies," and that it "will stifle innovation while doing little to save costs for Medicare beneficiaries." This from the industry that is raking in the tax cuts that Congress passed last year.

Just five big pharmaceuticals are going to save a combined $6 billion in 2018 alone. Another 10 are going to save $76 billion total in taxes on offshore revenue. But they're fighting $4 billion they'll lose over the next 10 years when they'll more than reap that back every single year.

Here's some free advice for them: spend some of that tax windfall on research and development instead of executive salaries and gifts to shareholders—and leave the discounts for Medicare patients alone.

Republicans side with big pharma over seniors, Medicare

I bet you actually believe the Dems aren't just as firmly in their pocket..........

They aren't.

I'll tell you why. Democrats are coalition party. Republicans are 90% white.
Republicans terrorize their base. Propagandizing them into believing all blacks are dangerous. That Mexicans are rapists. That Muslims want to blow up their church. It's a wonder Republicans aren't too terrified to step outdoors. They elect these monsters into office thinking they are being kept "safe" from all these dangers.

The Democratic leadership is made up of several different individuals.

It's like with Al Franken. When a picture was discovered of him holding his hands above a woman's breasts, it was over. He was forced to resign.

Trump is on tape saying he had great fun sexually assaulting women. They made him president.

The difference between the two parties.

Your complete lack of objectivity was duly noted a loooong time ago at which time your were dismissed as nothing more than a hardwired DNC output device.

 

[deanrd]

Historically Republicans align with business and owners while Democrats stood with labor and consumers. As labor issues have resolved themselves for the most part over the last 50-60 years we've seen the Democrats lose their party base. So I don't see anything bad in the Republicans' stance, it is being loyal to their party's ideology.

Correct.
Republicans have so propagandized, many believe healthcare is bad. The majority have been convinced that college and higher education is bad for America. The Republican Party has ruined these people's lives just to keep them voting GOP. Their numbers are shrinking. Eventually, the party will need to be inclusive. This racist, anti gay and anti woman rhetoric is not serving the party. It may seem like it is now, but the midterms are coming in just a few months. We will get an indication which way the GOP is moving.
I think that in October, when millions of Republicans find out they won't have healthcare after the first of the year, many women will begin a freakout about where they will take their kids if their kids get sick.
For people without kids it's a big ho hum. But for parents who actually love their children, it's a bid deal.
We will see how big in November.

 

[Weatherman2020]

This story is absolutely insane, demonstrating just how bought-off the entire Republican Party is. The Congressional Budget Office made a mistake. It estimated that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 would save Medicare $7.7 billion over the next decade in a change it made to a Medicare Part D drug discount program. That was a $4 billion error, in Medicare's favor, and also in favor of Medicare beneficiaries facing high prescription costs. So the changes will save Medicare—meaning the taxpayers—$11.8 billion in the next two years.

It means drug companies have to offer deeper discounts to enrollees who fall in the so-called “donut hole,” or the gap created when an enrollee's prescription costs exceed the coverage limits in their Part D plan. Drug companies have to offer those enrollees a 70 percent discount on drugs, up from 50 percent before the budget bill passed. So drug companies pay more, Medicare enrollees pay less, and it is saving taxpayers money.

The unbelievable, and yet totally predictable, part of this is that Republicans are coming down on the side of big pharma! Not just congressional Republicans, but "Republican think tanks, advocacy organizations and consulting firms." They've actually launched what is being called a "grassroots" effort to void the deeper discount in the law. Because sure, grassroots Republican seniors are going to be really up in arms over saving money on their prescription drugs. Of course it's PhRMA that's behind this.

They claim, as Daniel Seaton, a spokesman for Biotechnology Innovation Organization says, that it is "Forcing companies to divert billions of dollars from the research lab to bail out insurance companies," and that it "will stifle innovation while doing little to save costs for Medicare beneficiaries." This from the industry that is raking in the tax cuts that Congress passed last year.

Just five big pharmaceuticals are going to save a combined $6 billion in 2018 alone. Another 10 are going to save $76 billion total in taxes on offshore revenue. But they're fighting $4 billion they'll lose over the next 10 years when they'll more than reap that back every single year.

Here's some free advice for them: spend some of that tax windfall on research and development instead of executive salaries and gifts to shareholders—and leave the discounts for Medicare patients alone.

Republicans side with big pharma over seniors, Medicare

Tell us more about Big Pharma has the right to forcibly inject every human being on the planet against their desire every 90 days.
The Left are useful idiots for Big Pharma.