The headlines scream, lefty media outlets drool and Obama brags: "In a deal made with the pharmaceutical companies, I have cut the cost of medicine over the next 10 years by $80 billion dollars." And yet, in the grand scheme of things, what's that really boil down to? According to an excellent commentary by Greg Palast, 2%.
And yet, will this really be reducing the cost of drugs over the next ten years?
"The Big Pharma kingpins did not actually agree to cut their prices. Their promise with Obama is something a little oilier: they apparently promised that, over ten years, they will reduce the amount at which they would otherwise raise drug prices. Got that? In other words, the Obama deal locks in a doubling of drug costs, projected to rise over the period of "savings" from a quarter trillion dollars a year to half a trillion dollars a year. Minus that 2%."
Greg also points out yet another of Obama's failed promises: The promise to make these negotiations with the drug companies viewable for all to see on C-Span.
It's the Bush years all over again, yet with more intelligent sounding promises, speeches and proper enunciation.
Those of us who either didn't vote or voted for Nader are simply sitting back, watching it all enfold whilst saying to the Obama supporters: "Yep. I told ya so."
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1 comment:
And we all get screwed again. We'll never have the health care we deserve in this country, ever. Not until the profit motive is surgically removed which will never happen.
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