Posted on 12/12/2009 6:51:00 AM PST by mathprof
Democratic leaders hit a rough patch Friday in their push for sweeping health care legislation, as they tried to fend off criticism of their proposals from a top Medicare official, Republicans and even members of their own party.
Slogging through a 12th day of debate on the legislation, the Senate found itself at an impasse over a proposal to allow imports of low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries.
Democratic leaders tried to kill or neuter the proposal, offered by a senior Democrat, Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota.
The Medicare official, meanwhile, said that total national health spending would increase slightly as a result of the Senate bill, put together by the majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. President Obama has repeatedly said that one of his top goals is to slow the growth of health costs.
Richard S. Foster, the chief actuary of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Friday that under Mr. Reid’s bill national health spending from 2010 to 2019 would total $35.5 trillion. That is $234 billion, or 0.7 percent, more than the amount projected under current law, he added.
To help pay for coverage of the uninsured, the bill would impose new fees on health insurance companies and manufacturers of brand-name prescription drugs and medical devices. Mr. Foster said the fees would increase national health spending by $11 billion a year because the fees “would generally be passed through to consumers in the form of higher drug and device prices and higher insurance premiums.”
Republicans said Mr. Foster’s report confirmed what they had been saying for months.
“It is a remarkable report,” said Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska. “It is a roundhouse blow to the Reid plan.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Reid is an evil little man. America hating little stooge! Lying scum!
I don’t get it? Didn’t I just read that they want to pay for this by taxing perscrtiption drugs? Didn’t I also read that they want to allow us to import cheaper drugs from other countries? How is that going to work, and even if they tax imported drugs, won’t the taxs be less because the medicine costs less? my head is spinning. I don’t understand any of this. I don’t think they do either! If some one out there gets this, please let me know.
This is the biggest con; anyone want to bet against them pushing this turd through anyway?
Don’t beat your self up. You are trying to be rational. Congress is not rational. The just do not know what they are doing. That is why they do not read their own bills. It would just confuse them even more.
Thank you. I just couldn’t understand why it was okay by them but a puzzle for me. By the way, 70th division, are you in the service?
In the 60’s. Na I am an old guy. When I was in we wore all green. Viet Nam was not a history lesson to me. We lived through it.
Harry Reid - he might be a male, but he is certainly not a man.
70th Division,
My step father was a marine (WWII okinawa). My husband was airforce (proudly under Reagan. I am very proud of them, and I am very proud of you. You guys do the very hard job of keeping us safe and free. I can’t imagine going through some of the things that my step father went through (he has a very difficult time talking about some things he did and saw), but He can’t wait to fly his marine flag every holiday. I will never really understand that even though he hates war and is very much against it, at the same time he is very very proud of his role in it. I suppose that is something only the military can understand. I just wanted to say thank you!!! :)
Having these idiots in Congress deal with this issue is the equivalent to having a 5 year old defuse a bomb.
This whole thing will blow up in their faces.
I thought that the Dims and 0bama bought off big phsrma to get them off their backs. How could big pharma like a tax increase or competition from imported drug manufacturers? A double cross by 0bama and the Dims though is certainly not surprising.
How is Byrd’s health anyway. I think at his age he only has an actuarial survival of about 3 years. So statically, there might be a few percent chance of him croaking (or stroking) each month.
No, the pharma companies were stupid enough to believe that the "12-year exclusivity" (enhanced patent) on new and advanced biologic medicines would give them a leg up, so they supported that aspect of the "healthcare reform." Talk about bait and switch...don't ever, ever negotiate with Democrats.
He has double-crossed all of us in one way or another. Sad.
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