You almost have to pinch yourself to be sure you're not dreaming your way through the health policy deliberations that take place in this country.
Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune gives details of a "doomsday scenario" that Governor Tim Pawlenty is considering if the FDA stops the state's online program to buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada. Pawlenty says he's had preliminary talks with leaders of northern Minnesota Indian bands to see if they'd use their sovereign status "to act as wholesalers and distributors of prescription drugs."
The Star Tribune paints this scenario: "Imagine this: You go to a casino in Minnesota to play the slots and pick up your prescription drugs at the same time."
The casino setting may be appropriate. After all, we're gambling with the future with the haphazard nature of our health care reform movement, with states scrambling to fill the void left by a federal government that has taken on Social Security rather than Medicare.
The Wild West analogies keep creeping into this story. Pawlenty refers to the cost of drugs as "a prairie fire spreading across our nation." Now the cowboys of health care reform may take advantage of the Indians once again.
Posted by schwitz at February 17, 2005 08:15 AM