Monday, April 2, 2007

About the Big Pharma Mafia ...

60 minutes documents the passing of the Medicare Part D (the prescription drug plan) legislation and the subsequent exodus of individuals, who helped the pharmaceutical industry get what they wanted, to highly paid positions with the industry or their enablers.

Watch the video clip at Crooks and Liars:
Under the Influence: How Lobbyists Wrote and Bought the Rx Drug Bill
Though initially AARP came out against this bill AARP's Republican CEO Bill Novelli made a last minute switch in favor of the bill and even advertised for its passage.

Personal disclaimer: When AARP made that switch to the dark side I cancelled my membership. I still am not a member but when I began looking into prescription drug plans AARP's was definitely the best (from my perspective). Best does not necessarily mean good. Many plans I looked at would not have saved money, in fact with their trick of only covering certain drugs and not others it can actually cost more. Though AARP's plan seems good at present it still has the ability of becoming a bait and switch, a capability that was written into the Pharma Mafia legislation.

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