On the subject of Republicans treating legislation as mere vehicles
for doling out favors to corporate special interests, one of Josh
Marshall's readers offers up some comments about the Medicare
prescription drug bill:
http://tinyurl.com/drzop
Arbitrary drug classes like benzodiazepenes and barbiturates are
specifically excluded from coverage. Congress left no clue as to the
legislative intent of the exclusion. Someone seems to have decided
that these two drug classes are incompatible with some Biblical
teaching. Or maybe the competing drug classes are much more profitable
for someone's campaign contributors (as both benzodiazepines and
barbiturates are cheap and produced as generics, unlike their likely
treatment alternatives). As a result the nation's psychiatrists are
going batshit right now, trying to figure out what to do with patients
on drug regimens for things like seizures.
I don't know if this was the worst bill ever written, but it's
certainly in the top ten. I'd actually be willing to cut the funding
for prescription drugs in half if only they'd let actual policy
experts design the implementation of the damn thing. Of course, since
Republicans don't have anybody who cares about policy in this area,
that would mean handing it over to Democrats.
Say....
—Kevin Drum
