Bad Medicine in Congress and the Senate

posted by Editor on 07-21-2003 22:12

HR-1 and S-1 Are Bad Medicine being brewed by the centrists in Washington.  At the heart of this legislation there are too many established groups that don't want reform dividing the people's interest up for themselves.  The major losers are the currently uninsured and even the middle class insured with fairly good existing benefits; 4 million will lose their benefits because of "technical factors".  HR-1 and S-1 are bad medicine for the citizen.  These huge bills won't even go into effect until 3 years down the road, delaying even the semblance of reform from the cynical political landscape of today's Health Care.  The fact is the government wants to continue to allow the pharmaceutical companies an unregulated marketplace favoring those already at the table, thus creating even greater profits for this sector of the economy.

To give you an idea of how bad this bill is for a poor homeless single man or woman living on lets say $5,000 a year in assistance, they would be paying $3,420 in costs for pharmaceuticals before benefits kick in.  How is someone living on that kind of money supposed to eat to stay well and what are they supposed to pay rent with or other normal living expenses?  It even impacts the middle class working person who already has HMO coverage - 4 Million of these folks will lose their coverage if this bill goes into effect.  This bill targets Medicare for extinction forcing all existing Medicare recipients to join private plans (at their expense) by the year 2010. 

This bill is evil and seeks to make more profits for corporations who already have done their best to dispense healthcare like a form of elitism - the best care for the richest people and at the expense of the poor and the working person.  Those who sign on to the language of this bill are not bothered by their genocidal actions as it will surely torpedo the hopes and health of a lot of frail citizens who are desperate for help.  Only centrists and fascists could sleep at night signing this bill as it exists now at the end of this hot and oppressive July - where will our People and our Nation end up if this sentence of doom is cast upon the poorest amongst us. 

Call your Congressman and Senator and plead with them not to pass this retrograde piece of legislation. It reeks of irresponsibility and corporate welfare for the insurance companies.