This morning this article come across my feed on Facebook: Paul Ryan’s Obamacare Replacement Is A Death Sentence For Cancer Patients which opens up by saying:
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan made it clear during his CNN healthcare town hall that his plan to reduce healthcare costs involving moving cancer patients to high-risk pools that will be run by the states with benefits capped. In other words, cancer patients will be given less healthcare and lower odds of survival.
That's just NOT true! Let me explain and hopefully relieve some of the anxiety so many are experiencing with these types of scare tactics, headlines and articles…
First, you need to know the FACTS in numbers:
Here in the U.S., we make up 4-5% of the world’s whole population and 33% of the developed world’s population, yet account for 42% of all pharmaceutical revenue.
Note: In a quick bit of research on ONE pharmaceutical company, I found Johnson & Johnson, in 2015 reported the following:
- PROFIT: $70+ Billion
- RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT: $9+ Billion
- MARKETING: $21+ Billion
- LOBBYING EXPENDITURES: $6.3 Million
What does THAT tell you?
According to a report by the Center for Public Integrity, congressmen are outnumbered two to one by lobbyists in an industry that spends $100+ million a year in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses to protect its profits.
The drug lobby worked very hard to ensure Medicare would NOT be allowed to cut into the profits of big Pharma with special thanks to millions of new customers delivered to them each year by Part D.
How it Works Exactly:
The Medicare Prescription Drug Bill is “a give-away to the drug makers” because it prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices and bans the importation of identical, cheaper, drugs from Canada and elsewhere. However, other government agencies like The Veterans Affairs agency, CAN and DOES negotiate drug prices, pays MUCH less than Medicare. The bill was passed in an unusual and secret congressional session at 3 a.m. under heavy pressure from the drug companies.
This bill bans the federal government from negotiating prices like other insurance companies do. When the government program CAN’T negotiate lower pricing, and the entire healthcare industry can charge what they want of a government system that's guaranteed to pay up, why would they lower pricing that sets the standard?
Understand?
Ironically, President Obama’s ACA did and does NOT include ANY provisions directed at reducing the prices Medicare pays for drugs. The ONLY mention of Part D in ACA was “the statute’s closing of the “donut hole,” the out-of-pocket amount seniors pay for drugs when their spending exceeds the coverage level but falls short of the catastrophic level at which benefits resume.” Thus, the ACA (Affordable Care Act) or Obamacare, whatever you wish to call it, does NOT address the greatest threat to American's which is the high cost of prescriptions.
Believe half what you see, and none of what you hear especially from lame-assed media websites. I URGE you to take the topic and dig deep into the very heart of the topic where the political motivations become so much clearer and the truth can be found.
Paul Ryan’s Obamacare Replacement Is NOT A Death Sentence For Cancer Patients – Here’s Why!
The way I read the plan and with the research I have done into the reason WHY our healthcare is so expensive – it seems like this is one of, if not the ONLY way to get that shady-assed Medicare bill destroyed.
By privatizing insurance and putting it back in the hands of the states, that releases that federal ban and will allow for negotiations like it should be.
This isn't about harming people with pre-existing conditions, this is about reigning in the healthcare industry who has spun entirely out of control with their pricing.
A prime example was the recent Epipen that shot up to $700+ right after a federal contract was signed that every public school had to maintain a certain number of Epipens based on the number of students. They got their $700+ in the initial push into schools and would have never lowered the price had there not been such a massive, public outcry.
THE SOLUTION:
If you want healthcare to truly be affordable and to the benefit of everyone – getting it into the hands of the states and on a budget is the ONLY way it's going to happen because of that federal bill.
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