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There's no such thing as free Viagra
January 03, 2006
As we consider our goals for the New Year, what
is more important to American taxpayers: free Viagra or providing
essential food, health care and education for our neediest families?
According to our congressional leaders, free Viagra
is the priority.
This sounds like a bad joke. It isn't. Congress decided this week
to restore Medicare funding for Viagra and other Erectile-dysfunction
drugs at a cost of $90 million for 2006. To do so, they had to cut
other programs, mostly for our country's most vulnerable adults
and children.
Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, led the charge in favor of Viagra
funding, insisting that Congress keep its promise to the drug industry
-- which had expected ED drugs to be reimbursed under Medicare in
2006. He apparently thought it was unfair when, a few months ago,
Congress decided to instead use those $90 million in taxpayer money
for relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
In the ideal world, we would have enough federal dollars for disaster
relief, food stamps and Viagra for seniors. In the real world, however,
tax cuts and the war in Iraq have meant that billions of dollars
in essential programs have to be cut. And so, Congress decided to
come to the aid of pharmaceutical companies even if it meant harming
parents who were counting on after-school programs, pregnant women
who were counting on prenatal care and low-income families who were
counting on food stamps.
Since they had already made tremendous cuts to the No Child Left
Behind education program, community colleges, and maternal and children's
health programs in earlier versions of the same funding bill, Congress
chose to pay for Medicare coverage of ED drugs by shifting $120
million in funds intended to prepare for the flu pandemic.
That seems crazy, but it is really just smoke and mirrors. Congress
passed a different bill that provides more than $3.5 billion on
pandemic flu prevention and treatment efforts -- adding that same
$3.5 billion to our deficit for the year. So in truth, there is
no Christmas miracle of genuine savings to make up for the $90 million
for Viagra and other ED
drugs -- other than cuts in health and child care programs and
an increase in our national deficit. The kids who believe in Santa
now will be paying that debt for many years to come.
To read more, visit….. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/13538024.htm
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