Prescription Drugs and Medicare Part D
Remember in 2003 when the Republican Congress and GWB stripped Medicare's ability to get prescription drug pricing at group/bulk rates? Yet, Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, the Public Health Service, the Bureau of Prisons, and other federal agencies all buy drugs at negotiated prices.
Here's a reminder of the chief author of the drug plan and where he went:
House's Author of Drug Benefit Joins Lobbyists
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: December 16, 2004
ASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Representative Billy Tauzin, a principal author of the new Medicare drug law, will become president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the chief lobby for brand-name drug companies, the trade group announced Wednesday.
~snip~
Drug makers said that the job was not a reward for Mr. Tauzin's work on the Medicare bill, which followed the industry's specifications in many respects. The law was signed by President Bush on Dec. 8, 2003, a few weeks before a lawyer for Mr. Tauzin began talks with the drug trade group.
~snip~
Mr. Tauzin (pronounced TOE-zan) and Mr. White refused to discuss Mr. Tauzin's new salary, except to say it was comparable to the pay at other large trade associations. People at other trade groups said they believed that Mr. Tauzin would receive $2 million a year or more.
Representative Pete Stark of California, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, said: "As a member of Congress, Billy negotiated a large payout to the pharmaceutical industry by the federal government. He's now about to receive one of the largest salaries ever paid to any advocate by an industry."
FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/politics/16drug.html?_r=1
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It is difficult and maddening at times to see how corporate Democrats operate but how anyone could vote for a Republican is simply mind-boggling.
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