Your Tax Dollars At Work Part 4
Medicare Part D
Download the video from 60 minutes - WMV 4k
Article here - it's from the CBS show "60 minutes"
Why did the Congressional vote finally take place at 3 a.m.?
At an estimated cost of just under $400 billion over 10 years, it was the largest entitlement program in more than 40 years, and the debate broke down along party lines.
But when it came time cast ballots, the Republican leadership discovered that a number of key Republican congressmen had defected and joined the Democrats, arguing that the bill was too expensive and a sellout to the drug companies. Burton and Jones were among them.
"They're suppose to have 15 minutes to leave the voting machines open and it was open for almost three hours," Burton explains. "The votes were there to defeat the bill for two hours and 45 minutes and we had leaders going around and gathering around individuals, trying to twist their arms to get them to change their votes."
It certainly wasn't ugly for the drug lobby which invested more than $10 million in campaign contributions during the last election and has been a source of lucrative employment opportunities for congressmen when they leave office.
Friday I went to the Pharmacy, only to find out that my insurance no longer covers the medicine for my eye. I filled the prescription and they covered it 3 months ago but they no longer do. There is no Generic available, and a 0.5 oz tube costs $112.00
The Pharmicicst says that this is common, many companies got their government contracts then quickly began limiting the numbers and types of drugs they actually cover...
In January, one of the first things the new Democratic House of Representatives did was to make it mandatory for Medicare to negotiate lower prices with the drug companies.
A similar measure faces stiff opposition in the Senate, where the drug lobby is spending millions of dollars to defeat it.
The president has already announced that if the bill passes, he will veto it.
Download the video from 60 minutes - WMV 4k
Article here - it's from the CBS show "60 minutes"
Why did the Congressional vote finally take place at 3 a.m.?
At an estimated cost of just under $400 billion over 10 years, it was the largest entitlement program in more than 40 years, and the debate broke down along party lines.
But when it came time cast ballots, the Republican leadership discovered that a number of key Republican congressmen had defected and joined the Democrats, arguing that the bill was too expensive and a sellout to the drug companies. Burton and Jones were among them.
"They're suppose to have 15 minutes to leave the voting machines open and it was open for almost three hours," Burton explains. "The votes were there to defeat the bill for two hours and 45 minutes and we had leaders going around and gathering around individuals, trying to twist their arms to get them to change their votes."
It certainly wasn't ugly for the drug lobby which invested more than $10 million in campaign contributions during the last election and has been a source of lucrative employment opportunities for congressmen when they leave office.
Friday I went to the Pharmacy, only to find out that my insurance no longer covers the medicine for my eye. I filled the prescription and they covered it 3 months ago but they no longer do. There is no Generic available, and a 0.5 oz tube costs $112.00
The Pharmicicst says that this is common, many companies got their government contracts then quickly began limiting the numbers and types of drugs they actually cover...
In January, one of the first things the new Democratic House of Representatives did was to make it mandatory for Medicare to negotiate lower prices with the drug companies.
A similar measure faces stiff opposition in the Senate, where the drug lobby is spending millions of dollars to defeat it.
The president has already announced that if the bill passes, he will veto it.