Bill Frist Notes 12/12/03 (Emailed to me)

My email box | 12/12/03 | Bill Frist

[ibheath]

This is the good Dr.'s take on this. Comments?

[Bikers4Bush]

Just one question.

Why did he not mention the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be syphoned off to pay the border hospitals treating the illegal hordes?

[avg_freeper]

5. REDUCES THE COST of Prescription Drugs.

Every time a commodity is subsidized the price of the commodity increases. This situation is no different.

[dwilli]

Is this the guy who is supposed to be the head Republican
in the Senate?

Barbara Boxer gets more face time in the media than Frist.

He must be the strong, silent type

[Cubs Fan]

Isn't it great to have two parties out big governmenting each other?

/sarcasm

[ibheath]

Dr. Frist explains why we should be happy about the new Medicare law..........

[Redbob]

Oddly enough, he sent the very same personal note to me.

I replied (to his flunky, actually) that I was fed up with the GOP's concerted efforts to move to the left of the Dimocrats, by creating the biggest entitlement program since Lyndon Brainless Johnson.

And I demanded to be taken off their d@mn e-mail list.
I'm tired of reading Frist's lame excuses for expanding government; we'd have been better off with Algore in the White House and a GOP-controlled Congress.
A GOP Congress would NEVER have given algore the crap they've signed-on to for Bush.

[Cubs Fan]

I get that e-mail too

its just more spam to delete

[Recovering_Democrat]

all except #5 sound good. I've been one of the few here on FR defending the Medicare bill on most of these terms. #5 seems to be a penalty to the creator of new drugs.

[Recovering_Democrat]

wow. that's really dealing with the substance of the email. <\sarcasm>

[EllaMinnow]

Personally, I'm very pleased to have the HSA option. My husband is a contractor, so our health insurance is paid for right out of our pockets. I would much rather have our own medical savings account, where we can earn interest, than continue to throw a check at Blue Cross every month.

[azhenfud]

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[Cubs Fan]

Here's the substance. I pay 1000 bucks a month for health insurance I still pay a deductable, I have a child with asthma, so in addition I pay high amounts for meds my insurance will not pay for unless we use generic, only problem is only one is generic. SO I pay a lot of money for Health insurance and medicine. I never asked anybody to help me out. And normally I wouldn't even complain

BUT now thanks to Mr. Frist's and Bush's elderly votebuying scheme I have to pay more for other peoples as well.

A more honest letter would have been the following--

Dear conservative,

I realize that this is big government that I am asking you to pay for at a tune of a 400 billion per yer price tag. But as a republican I and the president are frightfully insecure about keeping our jobs so we hatched a vote buying scheme. Once again we realize we have screwed you, the base, but that's what we do, so too bad. If you don't like it vote for Howard Dean.

Truthfully put, Bill Frist

[Bigun]

Bump!

[Recovering_Democrat]

I empathize; though I don't pay the amount you pay per month, the health costs in my family are also extraordinarily high.

But personalizing the issue does not address the substance of Frist's points: the prevention aspects, the privatization aspects, and the competition aspects of this program all can contribute to a long-term decline in government expenditures for elderly health care costs. Not unlike investment or "priming" the pump...and I'm not talking about "investment" like Bill Clinton talked about it--I'm talking about letting Medicare "whither on the vine" (thanks, Newt) as people choose to leave it because there are better alternatives. Or, if the prescription drug program keeps the elderly from being sick in the first place then think how much less will be spent to "fix" a disease in an elderly person.

Imagine if the President and Frist went forward with a "less dismantle Medicare NOW!" plan and rhetoric. Gimme a break; it'd never pass, and the politics would destroy them. Indeed, this is a much better way of re-introducing free market elements into what Hitlery would've reduced to a totally government-controlled system.

At least that is how I see it.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Please, state your pleasure LOUD AND CLEARLY AND REPEATEDLY!

Few people realize what good stuff this law contains: it needs to be touted!
rd.

[avg_freeper]

Which of the "benefits" #1 - #9 outlined here necessitate $400 billion dollars to implement?

The only relevant matter to this discussion is if the government can better distribute the scarce medical commodities like doctors, medicine, and hospital beds better than the free market. Everything we've seen through out the history of mankind tells us no. Not without shortages, increase in pricing, and the gradual decline in quality of care.

I agree that many of the Frist's talking points sound good but they are attached to a pig of a spending bill. But I feel we are being robbed of $400 billion dollars with a few pittances thrown at us to make us feel better.

[Recovering_Democrat]

The only relevant matter to this discussion is if the government can better distribute the scarce medical commodities like doctors, medicine, and hospital beds better than the free market. Everything we've seen through out the history of mankind tells us no. Not without shortages, increase in pricing, and the gradual decline in quality of care.

I agree with you with one exception: the word "only" in your first sentence. We have to remember the maxim "Politics is the art of the possible". Manuevers that appear to be backwards in the beginning can, if managed properly, result in gains in the end. Just my two cents.
rd.

[Recovering_Democrat]

post 15 in particular can show you, at least partially, my reasoning about this law. thanks.

[ladyinred]

I have a mother, elderly, a widow on SS, on Medicare, which does not pay for her medication. Some things she has to take are very expensive. I understand people being upset that even rich seniors will get this benefit, but My mom is not rich by a long shot. For her and others like her, I am happy about this.