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One more item added to what candidate Obama said on the campaign trail about prescription drugs (see bolded paragraph) and what President Obama who cut a deal with drug companies has to say. No wonder Obama's poll numbers are falling so rapidly as he continues to do a 180 from what he said on the campaign trail. When we first heard about Obama's ties to radicals like Communist Frank Davis who was his mentor, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, and others we suspected he would lurch to the left if he was elected. That said, his lurch to the...

Hackers last week broke into a Virginia state Web site used by pharmacists to track prescription drug abuse. They deleted records on more than 8 million patients and replaced the site's homepage with a ransom note demanding $10 million for the return of the records, according to a posting on Wikileaks.org, an online clearinghouse for leaked documents. Wikileaks reports that the Web site for the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program was defaced last week with a message claiming that the database of prescriptions had been bundled into an encrypted, password-protected file.

Reuters Health Wednesday, June 25, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Use of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins rose by 156 percent between 2000 and 2005, with spending jumping from $7.7 billion to $19.7 billion, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported on Wednesday. "The number of people purchasing statins nearly doubled when comparing 2000 and 2005, rising from 15.8 million people to 29.7 million people," the AHRQ report reads. The total number of outpatient prescriptions for statins rose from about 90 million in 2000 to nearly 174 million in 2005. Each individual spent $484 a year on average on statins...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMarch 1, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       2008 National Drug Control Policy (PDF, 6.73MB, 79 pages) THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today, my Administration is releasing our 2008 National Drug Control Strategy. This report lays out the methods we are using to combat drug abuse in America. And it highlights the hopeful progress we're making in the fight against addiction. When I took office in 2001, our country was facing a troubling rate of drug abuse, particularly among young people. Throughout America, young men and women saw their dreams disrupted...

John McCain on Saturday said he wants to again allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada as a way to bring health care costs under control. By Associated Press CANAAN, Vt. - Republican presidential contender John McCain on Saturday said he wants to again allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada as a way to bring health care costs under control.

Federal prosecutors had what looked like a solid case against Joan Jaszczult, a Bloomfield doctor accused of writing Oxycontin and Percocet prescriptions for a ring that resold the drugs on the streets for huge profits. They had secret recordings by informants and undercover agents, a line of alleged co-conspirators waiting to testify against her, and even an eye-popping motive: she needed the cash, they said, to help pay $100,000 in plastic surgery bills. But four days after the trial opened, prosecutors suffered a devastating setback. The presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler, ruled the government had improperly introduced a...

Wal-Mart boasts that its new $4 generic drug program is disrupting the market, attracting new customers to its stores and starting the nation on a road that will ultimately squeeze billions of dollars from prescription drug spending. “I was never a customer of Wal-Mart,” said Frank Ganci, 74, a retired independent contractor who lives in Ridgefield, N.J. He has no drug insurance, despite being eligible for it under Medicare, because he considers the monthly premiums too high. Mr. Ganci said he recently paid $12 for a month’s supply of three generic drugs at the Wal-Mart in Secaucus — atenolol for...

On Tuesday, Giant Eagle, Inc. announced their plan for a discounted generic prescription drug program in all of its Pennsylvania supermarket pharmacies. The offering, which will reduce the prices of more than 300 generic prescription medications, went into effect immediately. Giant Eagle's announcement came just one day after Target announced that it would expand its $4 generic prescription drug program.

(Center for Health Transformation Responds to Flawed Families USA Study) The Center for Heath Transformation responded today to what it calls a flawed Medicare prescription drug benefit study designed to scare seniors before an election. The study was issued last week by the liberal activist group Families USA. In an opinion piece, Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation and David Merritt, project director for Consumer-Driven Healthcare at the Center, refute the claims in the study. The Families USA study states that the drug benefit as currently designed endangers millions of seniors by imposing financial penalties. Gingrich and...

The Medicare Part D program has begun and people seem to be satisfied with it despite all the confusion, controversy and the political rhetoric. However, Part D does not include everybody. There are some people who will still need help purchasing medicine. For example, a 48-year-old graphic designer whose company does not offer health care coverage or a 27-year-old who is between jobs would not be eligible for Part D yet may still have a difficult time affording medicine. Fortunately for such people there is an avenue available to them. The pharmaceutical companies have programs whereby they dispense either free...

Thousands of Americans who order prescription drugs from Canada have received written notice that their medications have been seized, part of a US government crackdown on the cross-border discount trade. The increase in seizures and the strong legal warnings issued to consumers mark a shift in policy for the Bush administration, which until now has rarely acted against individuals who buy drugs from Canada. [...] Nancy Popkin, a Salem resident who has been ordering the osteoporosis treatment Fosamax from Canadian pharmacies for years, was one of those recently targeted. [...] The notice, from the Department of Homeland Security, US Customs...

Go to Morrison's RX pharmacy in Plantation for 30 Nexium gastric reflux pills, and the list price is $202. Drive two miles to Costco in Davie, and it's $131. Unlike most products, the cost of medicine can vary sharply from store to store -- sometimes double or triple the lowest price -- as a result of the nation's complex and loosely regulated drug-selling system. LocalLinks Pharmacy industry experts say many people do not realize they can save money by comparison shopping, and that they can check a state Internet site that now posts prices of the most popular drugs from...

For years, Janey Karp has battled depression and anxiety with the help of prescription drugs. Though millions of Americans do the same, Karp admits she is intensely private and can't help but feel stigmatized for needing medication to feel normal. So when the 53-year-old Palm Beach resident read the Walgreens printout attached to her prescription last week for the sleep aid Ambien, she couldn't believe her eyes. Typed in a field reserved for patient information and dated March 17, 2005, was "CrAzY!!" In another field, dated Sept. 30, 2004, it read: "She's really a psycho!!! Do not say her name...

WASHINGTON -- Medicare officials say the program's new drug benefit will cost less than expected this year, as beneficiaries gravitate to plans with lower premiums. The average premium for beneficiaries this year is about $25 a month, down from about $32 as estimated in August. The government also will see savings, said Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The reason for the reduction: Health insurers are offering lower premiums than expected, and beneficiaries, Dr. McClellan said, "are choosing the plans that offer them the best deal." Last year, Medicare actuaries projected that the drug benefit...

Spend a few minutes on the phone with Danny Frankhuizen and you come away thinking, "What a nice boy." He's thoughtful, articulate, bright. He has a good relationship with his mom, goes to church every Sunday, loves the rock band Phish and spends hours each day practicing his guitar. But once he's inside his large public Salt Lake City high school, everything seems to go wrong. He's 16, but he can't stay organized. He finishes his homework and then can't find it in his backpack. He loses focus in class, and his teachers, with 40 kids to wrangle, aren't much...

Confusion greets drug-plan sign-up Legislators, consumer groups balk at Medicare Part D By Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch Last Update: 7:29 PM ET Nov. 15, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A dizzying array of options in the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit is confusing many beneficiaries who don't have enough time to make the decision without incurring a financial penalty, a group of lawmakers charged Tuesday. U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., along with U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., and Pete Stark, D-Calif., announced legislation that would give Medicare beneficiaries a full year to choose a Medicare...

  For Immediate ReleaseNovember 12, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This coming Tuesday, America's Medicare beneficiaries can begin to enroll for new prescription drug coverage. This new benefit is the greatest advance in health care for seniors and Americans with disabilities since the creation of Medicare 40 years ago. In the past, Medicare would pay tens of thousands of dollars for ulcer surgery, but not a few hundred dollars for prescription drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers. In the past, Medicare would pay more than $100,000 to treat the effects of a stroke,...

I Just Read This Great New "Prescription Thriller"-Carmen Piper and the Protest. A Must Read for Any Conspiracy Theorist!

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State Aug. 18, 2005, 10:34PM Austin prohibits Walgreens from refusing to fill prescriptions By LISA FALKENBERG Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN - Texas' capital city became the first in the nation Thursday, according to Planned Parenthood, to prohibit a pharmacy from refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control, emergency contraceptives and other medications. ADVERTISEMENT The measure, approved unanimously by the Austin City Council, requires Walgreens, the city's pharmaceutical contractor, to fill prescriptions for patients on Austin's medical assistance program "in-store, without discrimination or delay," even if an individual pharmacist declines to...

President Bush signed into law a bill to create electronic monitoring programs to prevent the abuse of prescription drugs in all 50 states. The new law creates a grant program for states to create databases and enhance existing ones in hopes of ending the practice of "doctor shopping" by drug abusers seeking multiple prescriptions. It would authorize $60 million for the program through fiscal 2010. The bill, signed late Thursday at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch, was sponsored by Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Republican representing Kentucky's 1st District. Kentucky's existing electronic prescription monitoring database, called KASPER - Kentucky All Schedule...