(11 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Remember how proud you felt when you heard change meant a 2% deal with big PhRMA to allow Health Care Reform to pass (as if their permission were essential?)
Well, it looks like someone in the Senate actually wants to fight to help Americans, not help screw them.
A Senate Democratic leader is hoping to blow up the deal reached between the White House, drug makers and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), by introducing an amendment on the floor to allow prescription drugs to be re-imported from Canada.
It’s one of the simplest ways to reduce health care costs but was ruled out by the agreement, which limits Big Pharma’s contribution to health care reform to $80 billion over ten years.
This is another instance of competition vs massive monopoly that harms people. I’m glad to see someone doing something about it.
More below the fold
A hat tip to DKos user jalapeno who pointed out . . .
NFIB (big time republican business) and AARP have signed on to this.
health care reform is gradually getting framed as Americans and small businesses versus big business.
Hats off to Senator Dorgan for having a spine.
Just like in the health insurance debate, the monopoly Big PhRMA has on American consumers is costing our nation and our citizens at the expense of their health and wealth. Who does this favor? Huge pharmaceutical companies that have a monopoly on a market with no foreign competitors. I am amazed how the defenders of Capitalism and free markets don’t see this glaring hole in their philosophy, but then I ealize they aren’t capitalists, they’re Corporatists, and they like nothing more than to coddle the special interests that pay their bribe moeny Campaign Donations. In an age of trusts, monopolies and secret political deals, the thing they don’t fear is socialism, but competition.
Well, I say we give them competition, a literal run for their money.
North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, a member of Democratic leadership, isn’t a party to that bargain. “Senator Dorgan intends to offer an amendment to the health reform bill and his expectation is that it will be one of the first amendments considered,” his spokesman Justin Kitsch told HuffPost in an e-mail. “Prescription drug importation is an immediate way to put downward pressure on health care costs. It has bipartisan support, and has been endorsed by groups such as the National Federation of Independent Businesses and AARP.”
I am interested in seeing how these votes break down, as it will be informative to know who votes how. That way, we can learn who is owned by who, because Amendmants like this only dy, in my opinion, if someone big says it should be killed. It is in the interest of the voter to see it pass, and in the special interest of the Corporations and Industries to see it fail. When votes like this come up it helps us learn who is on what side.
Of course, some politicians (R) make it kind of obvious, whereas others (D) need lame ass excuses. A good example of the later is Tom Carper (?-DE), who I designate his affiliation as a ? because I don’t know what the hell he stands for. Regarding this very deal Carper was quoted as saying “Whether you like PhRMA or not we have a deal.”
Mind you, this is the same wuss who said that Democrats shouldn’t try ideas Republicans won’t support.
And this strikes to the heart of the spineless/corrupt excuse issue. Everytime a Dem waters down a bill to get a GOoPer to vote for it he is saying “My idea wasn’t that good anyway”. Everytime a Dem supports a wingnuts idea he is saying “Your ideas are better than mine.” And everytime some jackass Democrat votes with Republicans he is basically saying “Vote Republican”, which, at least to me, is the fucking dumbest re-election strategy any Democrat can have.
We need Democrats to stand strong on their own issues, even if they have to do it alone. Voters don’t respect the ability to comproise, they respect the ability to lead. Right now, at this moment in American history, we need BIG Changes and BIG Ideas. Scaling back will not fix our problems faster, and waiting for the industries we are fixing or the political opposition we are working against to give us permission to do so is stupidity.
In the battle of competition vs monopoly, PhRMA wants to win. If Sen. Dorgan can do something to give PhRMA more competition, I say more power to him.
Also crossposted at The Progressive Electorate.com
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Shove them up your ass and call me in 2010