Posted on 10/14/2004 3:18:42 PM PDT by Fayre Verona
Do you remember something called the Clinton Government Vaccine Buying Program?
It was sold to us as a way to get prices down and get more children vaccinated and, of course, to keep the evil drug companies from making a profit. The Wall Street Journal says today, "Companies that decided to run these regulatory traps also know that they'll be doing so for very little reward. Before her big health care reform crashed and burned in '94, Hillary Rodham Rodham managed to get Congress to pass a government vaccine buying program for children. Her sales pitch was free vaccines for all kids and higher immunization rates. If we would give this stuff away, she said, more children would be immunized."
It was sold to us as a way to get prices down and get more children vaccinated and, of course, to keep the evil drug companies from making a profit. The Wall Street Journal says today, "Companies that decided to run these regulatory traps also know that they'll be doing so for very little reward. Before her big health care reform crashed and burned in '94, Hillary Rodham Rodham managed to get Congress to pass a government vaccine buying program for children. Her sales pitch was free vaccines for all kids and higher immunization rates. If we would give this stuff away, she said, more children would be immunized." . . . Thus, as a result of Hillary's plan, the government now purchases about 60% of all pediatric vaccines, forcing huge discounts and imposing price caps. The manufacturers were told, ''You can only make so much profit, and you're gonna make this amount, and we're gonna give it away.''
What all this did was screw up the whole private sector mechanism of manufacturing and distributing vaccines. In 2001, the private sector cost of immunizing children with the 20 recommended doses of vaccines was $600 per child. The government price was just $400 per child, with the vaccine makers swallowing the difference. What has this achieved? Vaccination rates for two-year-olds have stagnated at about 74% for the past several years while adult rates are significantly lower, and with the profit margin squeeze to practically zero, some manufacturers have simply said, "We're not making the stuff anymore. It doesn't make sense. We've got this government program that tells us the maximum we can charge, regardless what it costs to make, we're going to be threatened with lawsuits the first time somebody gets sick for whatever vaccine. Screw it!" Read the full story here.
Can this be another October surprise
Kerry probably voted YES for this. Was he in the Senate back then?
Thanks.
Kerry probably voted YES for this. Was he in the Senate back then?
He was probably a Senator then, but likely not present in the Senate for the vote..
I just saw the local evening news here in Central Florida with long lines of senior citizens waiting for flu shots. (WFTV) One man waiting in line said "With THIS government, there is no backup plan." President Bush is getting the blame for this.
You are an enlightened senior citizen!!!! The trial lawyers are to blame for the crisis in the biological drug industry ie immunizations!
ping
Same thing happened here in NC. An Eckerds in a small town advertised flu shots to be given today, starting at 2:00pm. The line was down the sidewalk by 8:00am with some folks driving close to 100 miles to get a shot.
There was only enough for 400 vaccinations and the pharmacy had to call the police when they ran of vaccine as the people in line started geting unruly.
Socialized medicine is not and will never be a good thing. It always ignores the realities of medicine and of life.
"Socialized medicine is not and will never be a good thing. It always ignores the realities of medicine and of life."
But the idiots keep saying "look at Canada, look at Britain"
Fools. Everything is "elective" surgery or treatment and so does not get done unless it is acute and near life threatening.
bttt
I wish Bush had explained the problem better in last night's debate. He could have made the point that this is a clear example of what happens when government price controls are applied to drugs. Shortages and rationing result. And this is what Kerry proposes for drugs prescribed for Medicare recipients. He attacked Bush for opposing Medical bulk purchases of drugs to force lower prices. His proposal would be a disaster. Bush is going to be blamed as incompetent when all he has been doing for four years is trying to clean up the messes Clinton left behind. It's disgusting.
The St. Petersburg Slimes (Times)ran an article last week intimating "outsourcing" of vaccine production to other countries was the problem. That's liberal code for Bush's fault.
I thought I heard on AM radio here today that some seniors were getting black market flu shots in parking lots from someone in parked trucks and they were warned this is not safe.
As a Candian I must tell you that our "health care" system was great at one time. In my case I cannot complain about the system, however there are a lot of misconceptions about
Canadian health care and one of them is that health care is free It is not free. It is paid for by heavy taxation.
Our health care system is in trouble at the present time because we offer health care to people who have never paid
much into the system but line up for it's benefits.
Let me relate an anecdotal incident, Some few years ago my wife and I were in Troronto Canada, on the main street, as
most of you know Toronto is the New York of Canada. My wife
overheard a man with a foriegn accent tell his female partner, perhaps his wife, Canada is a wonderful place they give you free health care".
Now Liberal Democrats may think this is a wonderful thing, and it is but the fiancial component of the system suggests that as you provide more and more health care to more and more people, something has to give. Either you raise taxes to support the system or you provide watered down health
care delivery in the form of longer lines in emergency rooms. Longer waiting time for Doctor visits and longer waiting times for life threatening procedures like bypass surgery.
Our "Liberal" Politicians have decided, some time ago, to
micro manage health care by capping incomes of health care providers, namely Doctors. The system has becom onerous and
unacceptable to medical practitioners.The system has deteriorated to the point that top rated specialists are leaving Canada for the States creating a
shortage of Doctors, these shortages contribute to the long
waiting periods in emergency rooms and other medical proceedures. Ifyou are in reasonbly good health and require minimal medical attention the system still works. If you require "critical" emergency treatment you will get it, our system has not totally colapsed but it is fraying considerably around the edges and headed for disaster if some drastic measure are not soon implemented.
Universal health care is only bad when it's badly administered, and ours is badly administered.
It makes perfect sense for Democratss to expect drug Maufacturers to make a vaccine and give it away, Isn't that what business is all about, losing money?.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.