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Bahr Blasts GOP ‘Sham’ Drug Bill
President Bahr issued a statement this week blasting the House Republican prescription drug bill, passed last week on a party-line vote, as “an election year sham,” and he called on members to press the Senate for real Medicare-based drug benefits.
He described the bill as “a $350 billion handout to the HMOs and the big drug companies,” packaged as a prescription drug benefit in an effort to dupe seniors into thinking the GOP wants to help them.
Bahr pointed out that one of the worst features of the bill penalizes employers who provide good private plans and would actually cause one-third of people now covered, or about 3 million, to be dropped from coverage, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
The bill allows HMOs and insurance providers to determine costs and coverage of drug plans, or whether or not to even offer plans, and does nothing to curb soaring drug prices. By contrast, the Democrats’ bill calls for true Medicare-based benefits that put money into the pockets of seniors rather than health care providers and drug companies.
Bahr noted that the drug industry is now funding a big advertising campaign to praise the Republican bill, and he called on locals to expose the GOP sham. A letter has been sent to CWA leaders in districts where the ads are being placed by the drug industry front group, the United Seniors Association.
He described the bill as “a $350 billion handout to the HMOs and the big drug companies,” packaged as a prescription drug benefit in an effort to dupe seniors into thinking the GOP wants to help them.
Bahr pointed out that one of the worst features of the bill penalizes employers who provide good private plans and would actually cause one-third of people now covered, or about 3 million, to be dropped from coverage, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
The bill allows HMOs and insurance providers to determine costs and coverage of drug plans, or whether or not to even offer plans, and does nothing to curb soaring drug prices. By contrast, the Democrats’ bill calls for true Medicare-based benefits that put money into the pockets of seniors rather than health care providers and drug companies.
Bahr noted that the drug industry is now funding a big advertising campaign to praise the Republican bill, and he called on locals to expose the GOP sham. A letter has been sent to CWA leaders in districts where the ads are being placed by the drug industry front group, the United Seniors Association.