SOUTH BEND -- The health care system needs reform but U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, says it shouldn't be through a government-run program.
Insurance companies currently have a lot of control in the system and the playing field needs to be more level with patients, Donnelly said in a phone interview with The Tribune on Wednesday.
He said he supports the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada to help senior citizens save money.
Donnelly said Medicare Part D must be changed to remove the coverage gap, or the "doughnut hole." The hole lies between $2,250 and $5,726 in total prescription drug spending, where a participant has to pay for all of their drug costs until they reach the out-of-pocket protection threshold.
If Congress could negotiate drug prices with drug companies, prescription drug prices would drop, Donnelly said, shrinking the doughnut hole and helping senior citizens save money. He said seniors eligible for the Veterans Affairs program are already paying 42 percent less on their drugs, because the VA negotiates prices with pharmaceutical companies.
Donnelly said he supported renewal of the national State Children's Health Insurance Program, which would have provided health care for 98,000 children in Indiana. SCHIP was enacted in 1997 to last for 10 years and expired last September.
These Hoosiercrats piss me off to no end. Using "government-run" as a pejorative? What is this, 1985? News flash, Donnelly, people vote for Democrats because they don't want the government to be run by free market fundamentalists and corporatist sellouts. Or were we not supposed to notice that you don't support programs competing with corporate middle-men, but you do support programs subsidizing their profits?
No comments:
Post a Comment