AARP endorses House health care reform bill

[JoeTheJuggler]

The story:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/05/health.care/index.html

I recall someone on one of these threads insisting that "seniors" are opposed to what was then being called Obama's healthcare plan. At the time, AARP was studiously avoiding making a statement of endorsement or opposition.

This could be a significant boost to keeping the "public option" in when it comes time to combine House and Senate versions.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

I see the AMA has also endorsed it.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Yup, it's a big boost for the Democrats. It's going to be hard for the anti-reformists to spin this one.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

I have to admit I was pretty pessimistic about the public option's chances of making it to a final version of the bill, but now it's looking a lot more promising.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Like there was any doubt the seniors would oppose being allowed to buy name brand drugs instead of the generics.

Have you ever been in a pharmacy?

 

[Magyar]

Like there was any doubt the seniors would oppose being allowed to buy name brand drugs instead of the generics.

Have you ever been in a pharmacy?

I Have NO idea what that is supposed to mean - my experience seniors could give sh8 about brand named drugs! And yes I have parents and in-laws and my wife works with exclusively over 65 people. The one UNIVERSAL theme I hear is how they hate the fact that they can't buy meds from Canada for a 1/3rd of the price. and currently the BS with COLA. My father in law has been on the same meds for years and every year including this one it has gone up. This year his total meds went up by jsut under $500 for the year. But since there is no inflation he's that much poorer.

 

[Thunder]

"the AMA and the AARP are clearly secretly working for the Kenyan-born President."

 

[Thunder]

I Have NO idea what that is supposed to mean - my experience seniors could give sh8 about brand named drugs! And yes I have parents and in-laws and my wife works with exclusively over 65 people. The one UNIVERSAL theme I hear is how they hate the fact that they can't buy meds from Canada for a 1/3rd of the price. and currently the BS with COLA. My father in law has been on the same meds for years and every year including this one it has gone up. This year his total meds went up by jsut under $500 for the year. But since there is no inflation he's that much poorer.

u can order meds from Canada online. the US gov. will not crack down on individual purchases for individual use.

only use a website that requires an Rx.

 

[Newtons Bit]

I Have NO idea what that is supposed to mean - my experience seniors could give sh8 about brand named drugs! And yes I have parents and in-laws and my wife works with exclusively over 65 people. The one UNIVERSAL theme I hear is how they hate the fact that they can't buy meds from Canada for a 1/3rd of the price. and currently the BS with COLA. My father in law has been on the same meds for years and every year including this one it has gone up. This year his total meds went up by jsut under $500 for the year. But since there is no inflation he's that much poorer.

The current health reform bill will not change this. Obama agreed to a deal earlier this year with Pharma earlier this year to not change the status quo on patented medicine.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Like there was any doubt the seniors would oppose being allowed to buy name brand drugs instead of the generics.

Have you ever been in a pharmacy?

There certainly was doubt about how seniors felt about the entire health care reform bill.

Palin and her "death panels" tried hard to convince people that we were out to euthanize grandma. There were real concerns that a pretty huge savings was going to come from administrative budget cuts to Medicare without reducing benefits.

Quite a few older folks (my mom, for example) were lied to by their churches, having been told that these reforms would mandate federal tax money to pay for abortions.

I'm quite certain someone in this forum claimed that both seniors and the AMA were against this sort of reform package.

So I would say yes, there was doubt that seniors--or at least the AARP-- would endorse it.

 

[dudalb]

My main concern about the bill is they are very vague about how it will be paid for. It might well be worth a general tax increase..which is what will happen, but I think the Dems should be honest about it, and not attempt a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I Have NO idea what that is supposed to mean - my experience seniors could give sh8 about brand named drugs! And yes I have parents and in-laws and my wife works with exclusively over 65 people. The one UNIVERSAL theme I hear is how they hate the fact that they can't buy meds from Canada for a 1/3rd of the price. and currently the BS with COLA. My father in law has been on the same meds for years and every year including this one it has gone up. This year his total meds went up by jsut under $500 for the year. But since there is no inflation he's that much poorer.

This is when they have to pay out of pocket. When they have a drug plan that pays for it (even if its limited in total for the year) its a whole different story

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

My main concern about the bill is they are very vague about how it will be paid for. It might well be worth a general tax increase..which is what will happen, but I think the Dems should be honest about it, and not attempt a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

I agree with you to the extent that I don't think Obama should have pledged to sign no bill that would add to the national debt.

The net cost of these various reform packages (that will make a decent attempt at extending healthcare coverage to nearly everyone) is very likely to be less than the cost of the Iraq War fiasco. (And that's not counting the fact that the invasion and occupation of Iraq had a cost in lives and the insurance reform will likely result in saved lives and improved health.)

I think Obama could have more reasonably pledged not to start another "preventive" war based on highly spun versions of shaky intelligence (and that's being polite). The savings realized right there would offset the cost of health insurance reform.