The Smarter Darren Bernard

I know, I know, Bush from the start never intended to play ball with the new Democratic majority, but I sure hope this will make it crystal clear to the voters why they voted against Bush and the Republicans:

Administration Opposes Democrats’ Plan for Negotiating Medicare Drug Prices

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: November 13, 2006

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 — The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats’ top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.

In an interview, Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, said he saw no prospect of compromise on the issue.

“In politics,� Mr. Leavitt said, “most specific issues like this are a disguise for a larger difference. Government negotiation of drug prices does not work unless you have a program completely run by the government. Democrats say they want the government to negotiate prices. What they really want is government-run health care.�

Federal price negotiations would unravel the whole structure of the Medicare drug benefit, which relies on competing private plans, Mr. Leavitt said.

Dozens of plans are available in every state. They charge different premiums and co-payments and cover different drugs. The 2003 Medicare law explicitly prohibits the federal government from negotiating drug prices or establishing a list of preferred drugs.

Yeppers, your credit card conservatives will fight tooth and nail to make sure their corporate cronies will get the extra hundreds of billions, while the rest of us get screwed.