A week ago, Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich asked the FDA for an exemption from federal law so the state could buy prescription drugs from Canada. He figured on saving $90.7 million a year.
The FDA said "No." It seems it could not guarantee the safety of the drugs.
You should be pleased that the FDA is vigilant, unlike Canadian authorities who allowed so many of their citizens to die from bad pills. You didn't know about that? That liberal press is at it again.
Seriously, this caring FDA is the very same agency that has approved umpteen US drugs in the last few years that killed patients, only to recall them after-the- death.
In fact, what we have here is the old story of a regulatory agency doing the bidding of the industry it's supposed to regulate. In this case, the industry - pharmaceutical manufacturing - is the most profitable in the nation. And extraordinary in its power, arrogance and duplicity.
(That last adjective refers to Big Pharma's habit of paying front groups to convey its message, including so-called "senior" organizations like USA, the United Seniors Organization. USA is one of several products from the shop of Richard Viguerie, the direct mail guy who specializes in fund-raising for right wing causes.)
But you cannot say the pharmaceutical industry is impotent.
Keeping its own "price control" in the US market while selling the same drugs for less overseas is just one of its victories. The new Medicare "reform" law is another.
I wrote about that in my last "New Wrinkles in Aging" column for the Albuquerque Tribune Dec. 18.
In case you missed it:
(Headline: I'm Steamed AARP Executives Sold Out)
Having pulled out the cards, plastic and paper, in my back pocket, I shuffle them. Ah, here it is – the rectangular AARP card. "Member since 1986," it says, and "Expiration November 2004." Wonder if I can get a refund.
I’m thinking of tearing it up, you see, or mailing it with a bitter message to AARP honchos in Washington, D.C., the guys who put the AARP stamp of approval on an awful Medicare "reform" bill that’s now law.
Though, to be fair, the law responded to a lot of sincere requests.
The pharmaceutical industry, for example, asked Washington to preserve its control of prices. Done. The law makes it illegal for Medicare to bargain for volume discounts. Guess that’s why the drug makers spend millions yearly to enhance the lives of our elected representatives.
Insurance companies wanted new federal subsidies. Done. They will be rolling in dough, my dough and yours. Yes, we are going to provide welfare to these corporations so they can make money in the senior health market. Confused? Hey, it makes sense to them.
Oh, and Republicans expressed the desire to wrest the Medicare issue from the opposition. Done. Several suicidal Democrats cooperated. (Yes, I know "suicidal Democrat" is redundant.)
But Medicare recipients struggling to pay for expensive pills will get help, right? Some, probably, but nobody knows for sure. Our compassionate politicians decided to postpone the "help" to 2006. (Gosh, I respect Scrooge. He never pretended to care.)
And the cost! They’re guessing $400 billion, which frightened some conservatives. Frightens me, too.
In backing this noxious brew of corporate welfare and privatization, AARP betrayed me. But my disgust with that organization is not universal, as I learned chatting with three New Mexicans who have dedicated years to it.
Lovola Burgess, who served on the national board for 10 years and was National President in 1992-94, admits only to "disappointment." AARP should have educated members and let them speak for themselves, she says.
Ida Smelser, a volunteer for 25 years, shares Lovola’s disappointment and characterizes AARP’s action as "partisan."
After 17 years of service, Pat Johnson’s reaction is stronger, "a step beyond" disappointment. Policy should rise from the grassroots, she believes, not top-down. AARP’s decision was "business-oriented, not human-oriented."
But none of the three will burn her card.
Oh, they dislike the law, but they see another side of AARP, particularly at the state level. They say New Mexico’s paid AARP staffers do great work.
And it’s true that New Mexico staff and volunteers recently helped pass legislation to protect seniors from predatory mortgage and home repair lenders. True, too, that AARP folks here reach out to new widows and widowers, older drivers, the tax form-befuddled and grandparents raising grandchildren.
Impressive. Still, why belong to a "senior lobby" that sells me out to drug and insurance companies ? It will cost me my AARP life insurance, but I want to join the exodus. (About 20,000 have already quit.) Or do I stay and fight?
Tough decision, so for now I’ll follow in Jack Benny’s footsteps. You remember the robber who put a gun to Benny’s back, saying "Your money or your life." Silence. More silence. Then the robber, losing patience, barked, "Well"?
"I’m thinking," said an annoyed Benny. "I’m thinking."
Alpert welcomes your thoughts at ArthurAlpert@swcp.com
That's the column. It appears in the Neighborhood Tribune
the third Thursday of the month.
Posted by Arthur Alpert at December 26, 2003 02:57 PM