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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kumar who wrote (18279)	12/1/2003 4:19:40 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793681

TAKE SOME FEDERALLY FINANCED ZOLOFT AND YOU'LL STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE DEFICIT: Everyone assumes the new prescription drug plan is a huge favor from Republicans to the pharmaceutical industry, but will this really be the case? Maybe. Physician lobbies opposed Medicare in 1965--"socialized medicine," etc. Later the doctors realized that Medicare meant their best customer group, senior citizens, could always pay for services. However much physicians may grumble about Medicare reimbursements, it's better to have your best customers pay something than pay nothing, as was so often the case before Medicare, when millions of seniors were medically indigent. Real-dollar physician income has risen steadily pretty much since the day Medicare was enacted. So when the federal government begins covering the tabs of their best customers--seniors, of course--pharma companies may be happy as well. Or not. As deficits mount and future sessions of Congress have no choice but to reign in spending, it seems close to inevitable that Congress will consider some form of price controls. Don't be misled by the silly provision in the bill George W. Bush just signed, the provision that forbids the federal government from negotiating for lower drug prices. Pharma lobbyists may have covered themselves for now with that rule. But it's not an amendment to the Constitution, it's just a rule passed by Congress, and Congress changes the rules constantly. How long until members of the House and Senate, including Republican members, look at the deficit, realize something has to give and realize that price controls on pharmaceuticals will save the government billions? After all, it only took to the 1980s for Medicare to impose what are in effect price controls on physician services. tnr.com