Archive for April, 2007
National Committee Reaction to Social Security & Medicare Trustees Report
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007Barbara B. Kennelly, NCPSSM President/CEO says: “The Medicare funding warning included in this year’s Trustees Report is just the latest of many ticking time bombs hidden in the pages of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. This warning is arbitrary and completely ignores the real challenge facing Medicare, which is the sky-rocketing cost of our [...]
Part D Drug Prices Soar and So Do Drug Maker Profits
Friday, April 20th, 2007It’s really been a good week for drug makers. Not so great for seniors facing high prescription drug bills. Consider this interestesting pair of stories today. A new report by Families USA shows the prices for drugs in the Part D program are rising at four times the inflation rate. This mirrors earlier findings on [...]
How Much Money Does It Take To Kill A Bill? Just Ask Pharma…
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007By Maria Freese, NCPSSM Policy Director The failure of the Senate to take up S.3 today is another clear sign that the drug lobby still carries a lot of weight in Washington. So great is their fear of the power of negotiations, drug companies and their allies pulled out all the stops to deep-six a [...]
It’s True, The Senate Did Make the Same Mistake…Twice
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007Hard to believe but it’s true. The Senate won’t even debate allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. Senate Republicans blocked this critical vote showing once again that Drug Industry lobbying trumps seniors’ needs. Following is a statement from our President/CEO, Barbara Kennelly. “The vast majority of Americans want Medicare to negotiate for lower [...]
Will the Senate Make the Same Mistake…Twice?
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007The Senate is debating the Part D Drug Negotiation bill, S.3, this morning. Chances are there won’t even be a vote on this legislation because the GOP has threatened to block a full debate and vote. What a shame. The Senate has a chance to fix a mistake made in the first Part D legislation [...]
Drug Negotiation Bill Goes to the Senate Floor
Monday, April 16th, 2007The Senate Finance Committee passed the Part D drug negotiation bill late Thursday night allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug companies for lower prescription drug prices. The committee’s vote was 13-8. The Associated Press has coverage of the debate. The full Senate is expected to vote sometime this week. It will be a [...]
Part D Drug Negotiation Bill Debated in Finance Committee Tonight
Thursday, April 12th, 2007Keep your eyes open for activity in the Senate over the next few days on Medicare drug negotiation legislation. The Senate Finance Committee will markup S.3, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007 at 6:40p tonight and the bill is expected before the full Senate next week. Language in the Senate bill doesn’t [...]
We Couldn’t Have Said It Better
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007Kudos to columnist Marie Cocco for doing her homework and some good old fashioned digging in her coverage of the recess appointment of Andrew Biggs to the number two position at the Social Security Administration. Until Cocco’s story, most reporters seemed content to provide only simplistic “Biggs is against private accounts” stories on his appointment. [...]
So, You Don’t Believe in Social Security? Great, you’re hired!
Monday, April 9th, 2007Andrew Biggs has certainly had his 15 minutes of fame (infamy?) this week as one of three indescribably bad recess appointments made by the President during the week-long Easter Congressional recess. It’s hard to know where to start with this one. So, let’s just start at the beginning. Andrew Biggs has built a career pushing [...]