September 6, 2012
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Bill Clinton's Convention Speech Last Night
During his Democratic Convention speech last night, Bill Clinton asked if we thought we were better off today than we were four years ago. He was clearly looking for an affirmative answer, but for me and most people I know the answer is a resounding no. Let me say that again: NO!! Why? Because in order to get support for his health care reform bill he met in the White House with the operating managers and CEOs of both the insurance firms and the pharmaceutical companies. During those meetings, Obama agreed to allow those companies to raise their prices, presumably in order to bank some money to help cover their extra costs when the bill took effect. Since then my insurance costs and out of pocket drug costs have risen more than $1000 a year. That's a lot of money for low income families. For those of us whose sole source of income is our monthly social security check, it's almost a diaster.
Want an example? I have emphysema, and I take albuterol to help with my breathing. Before Obama, I used to buy a generic version of drug for $4.50 each month. After Obama's meeting with the Big Phams, the generic version was with drawn from the market, and the same active ingredient was repackaged and given a new name. That renamed product costs $45 a month, 10X what I was paying. And that's just one prescription
Am I better off that I was four years ago? No! No!! No!!!
Comments (2)
I'm sorry about the withdrawal of generic albuterol -it seems unlikly that it was withdrawn as a result of some Obamacare deal however. If you're on Soc Sec, presumably you are on Medicare & MedicareRX - both of which have been improved by Obamacare - the exception being those on Medicare Advantage or Medicare Complete - plans offered by private HMOs or insurers which generally provide some extras and for which you pay a co-pay rather than have a medigap insurance policy. These plans were originally subsidized by medicare but that subsidy has been withdrawn by Obamacare and those kinds of medicare now cost more to the individual. If you're on Soc Sec but not yet eligible for medicare all I can say is hang in there - Medicare is the best retirement deal I've heard of - It's saved my wife and I literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A personal note: My wife reminds me that her sister - who had really severe COPD (eventually died from it) had the same problem with paying for her breathing medicine until her MD prescribed a nebulizer medicine delivery system, after which medicare payed both for the appliance and the medicine under medicare part 2 - saved her a bunch. I don't know if this applies to you or if you are already aware of the option, but if not, it's probably worth looking in to.
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