the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 13, 2010
Since 2005, the year that Medicare was “reformed,” the 200 brand-name drugs most used by older Americans have shot up in price by 40%.
A new report by a vice president of AARP and a professor of health policy showed the increase in the cost of such popular drugs as Flomax, Nexium, Lipitor and Plavix.
The 2005 Medicare “reform” required that everyone over 65 or receiving Social Security disability must pay for some form of Medicare Part D if they don’t have private insurance. Otherwise, they would face an enormous penalty when they needed drugs in the future.
And what is worse, Bush’s so-called reform allowed the pharmaceutical companies to raise the price of drugs as much as they pleased.
We see the results in only five years–at a very high cost to anyone on Medicare.