U.S.Senate R’s vote AGAINST capping insulin price, Aug. 2022

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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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13 Aug 2022, 9:13 pm

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/insuli ... ction-act/

Aug. 8, 2022:

Quote:
“Senate Republicans on Sunday blocked a $35 monthly cap on the cost of insulin in the private market from being included in Democrats' economic tax and spending package, . . . ”

“ . . . Amid the proposed changes to the plan was to set the $35 per month cap on insulin, the pricy medication needed to treat diabetes. Seven Republican senators voted with all 50 Democrats to keep the price ceiling in the legislation: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cindy Hyde Smith of Mississippi, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Dan Sullivan of Alaska.

“Still, with a vote of 57 to 43, the provision failed to garner the 60 votes needed to waive special budgetary rules and include it in the bill. The House passed a similar cap on the price of insulin in April. . . ”


(1) U.S. politics are complicated,

(2) The Republicans who voted against this went against Pres. Trump, who in one of the 2020 debates with Pres. Biden, said he wanted insulin to be as cheap as water. Trump said this, and I will pull this quote.

(3) I’m happy to give credit to the 7 Senate Republicans who voted for the cap.

(4) I think seniors on Medicare do have this $35 cap on monthly insulin co-pays [will try to look this up].

(5) And the Republicans who voted against this have shown much too much deference to big corporations in general, and to big pharma in particular.



Fnord
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13 Aug 2022, 9:19 pm

The Repugnicans seem to lack compassion for the poor and the sick.


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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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13 Aug 2022, 9:29 pm

https://www.debates.org/voter-education ... ranscript/

1st Debate between Trump and Biden

Sept. 29, 2022:

Quote:
TRUMP: “I’ll give you an example. Insulin, it was destroying families, destroying people, the cost. I’m getting it for so cheap it’s like water, you want to know the truth. So cheap. Take a look at all of the drugs that what we’re doing. Prescription drug prices, we’re going to allow our Governors now to go to other countries to buy drugs because when they paid just a tiny fraction of what we do.”


Trump is a big picture guy, not a detail guy.



Fnord
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13 Aug 2022, 10:23 pm

AardvarkGoodSwimmer wrote:
https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/september-29-2020-debate-transcript/

1st Debate between Trump and Biden

Sept. 29, 2022:

Quote:
TRUMP: “I’ll give you an example. Insulin, it was destroying families, destroying people, the cost. I’m getting it for so cheap it’s like water, you want to know the truth. So cheap. Take a look at all of the drugs that what we’re doing. Prescription drug prices, we’re going to allow our Governors now to go to other countries to buy drugs because when they paid just a tiny fraction of what we do.”


Trump is a big picture guy, not a detail guy.
Mr. Trump will say anything only to make himself look good, and will do anything only for his own personal benefit.


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MuddRM
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13 Aug 2022, 10:52 pm

Fnord wrote:
The Repugnicans seem to lack compassion for the poor and the sick.


Not only rethuglicans, but all politicians, in general could care less about the poor, the sick, and the disabled.



DW_a_mom
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14 Aug 2022, 12:53 am

More proof that the "screw the Democrats" agenda even supersedes issues and measures the Republicans have said they believed in. It's really the only explanation.

I'm surprised Josh Hawley was one of the positive votes. I thought he was firmly in the take no prisoners, never join the Democrats, camp. Guess I don't know his voting priorities as well as I assumed.


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Fnord
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14 Aug 2022, 10:35 am

MuddRM wrote:
Fnord wrote:
The Repugnicans seem to lack compassion for the poor and the sick.
Not only rethuglicans, but all politicians, in general could care less about the poor, the sick, and the disabled.
By saying that they “could care less”, you admit that they still care.

Did you mean that they “could not care less”?


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AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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14 Aug 2022, 10:39 am

Some conservatives are worried about inroads of socialism. We know about this fear and worry.

But—

This is the much easier question of whether we’re going to be against monopolies and quasi-monopolies. The Sherman Anti-Trust and all that. This has a much more robust tradition in American history. And a tradition I think we should celebrate and build upon.

So, Yeah, I think we should take on Big Pharma. And in particular, medicine which has been around for decades should really be pretty cheap. Almost in the nature of a utility! :D



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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14 Aug 2022, 12:06 pm

https://www.wcnc.com/amp/article/news/v ... 3f19f773de

Quote:
“ . . . The Inflation Reduction Act only caps insulin prices for Medicare patients, not for people with private insurance. . . ”

So currently, Yes, the price of insulin is capped for Medicare patients only. Meaning, for senior citizens.



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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14 Aug 2022, 8:04 pm

https://www.grid.news/story/politics/20 ... ut-relief/

Aug. 8, 2022:

Quote:
“ In 2020, former President Donald Trump instituted a Senior Savings Model for insulin, which allowed some Medicare recipients to enroll in plans that capped costs at $35 per month and tried to limit insulin prices at federal health centers. The latter rule was nixed by the Biden administration, which said the program would benefit too few people to justify the extra burden it would place on health centers.”


Stopping this latter rule was a mistake on the part of the Biden administration. Look, I’m happy to be an equal opportunity offender. There is plenty of blame to go around.

And there’s a lot to be said for standing pat.

Which I think can be viewed as a type of being conservative. For example, unless something is a clear and obvious improvement, we should probably stick with current complications rather than a new set of complications.

But if it is a clear and obvious improvement, then it’s probably worth making the change. :D



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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15 Aug 2022, 5:19 pm

Fnord wrote:
The Repugnicans seem to lack compassion for the poor and the sick.


MuddRM wrote:
Not only rethuglicans, but all politicians, in general could care less about the poor, the sick, and the disabled.


To me, this is squarely a middle-class issue.

And it’s about taking on a cartel. Insulin has been around, since what, the 1940s? ? ? And not just experimentally, but for actual regular, everyday use by patients.

=================

Maybe another time, we can discuss how modern “advanced” economies are not great at producing enough jobs, particularly the middle-income jobs. And how many people who are different, for whatever reason, are often excluded when they don’t need to be.

And we can discuss it here if people really want to. I am in favor of messy discussions after all.

================

But on this one I think the question is— Are we realistic about corporate cartels and oligopolies, or aren’t we?