Another Member Of The Republican Brain Trust Speaks
TPM has a video of Senator “Diaper” David Vitter (R-LA) being asked by a constituent about his support for drug reimportation from Canada. Republicans have spent many months describing Canada as a socialist hellhole, so why would Vitter support using the lower prices that Canada’s system is able to negotiate from pharmaceutical companies? Vitter’s answer? – He supports it because it will destroy Canada’s system.
Vitter: (reading back a question) ‘If socialized medicine is such a bad idea, why do you propose we import medicine from a country that has a socialized health care system?’ I guess you’re talking about Canada, and similar places, Conrad?
Questioner: Correct.
Vitter: Well, good question, Conrad. I’m for re-importation not because I wanna import price controls, which Canada has, you’re right. It’s because I believe re-importation will cause the pricing system world-wide that the big drug companies exploit to collapse. Right now the big drug companies are able to charge very different prices in different countries, and of course we pay the highest price of all. If they did that, like they do now, but then we can write off to Canada, and pass certain safety provisions, and get drugs from there – guess what? That system implodes. That system can’t survive. So my ultimate goal, in terms of re-importation, is causing that system to collapse, so there’s a true, world-wide price for a drug. And that might – wouldn’t might – that would increase the cost in Canada, that would dramatically decrease the cost in the US. So that’s where I’m coming from. You want to follow up on that?
Questioner: Okay, um – so Canada, their health care system, they’re doing something right, I guess? So are we taking a page from their book?
Vitter: No, I don’t – again, I don’t support price controls, but I actually think re-importation would cause that system, as well as these varying prices, to collapse. That make sense?
I think he’s right in a way. The U.S. is subsidizing the rest of the world. That means we’re paying higher prices because of our f’ed up health care system. The drug companies can get away with screwing us. If we did go to a more universal system (and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices) our prices would go down and Canada’s would probably go up a bit. However, importing drugs from Canada won’t do that. The most likely scenario is that Canada would impose limits on how many drugs can be exported.
Well, I don’t think Vitter is being honest about his reasoning anyway. Republicans have painted themselves into a corner in this health care debate, so I think this is just a way to try to justify his hypocrisy. Anyway, Vitter is up for re-election in 2010. I think this will be one of the more interesting races. He’s got a credible Democratic challenger in Rep. Charlie Melancon, he’s got a porn star challenger in the Republican primary and will possibly get a challenger from the right from a third party.
Tags: David Vitter, Health Care Reform, LA-Sen
Vitter’s just taking a page out of Canadian Bacon. Remember during the Republican Primaries, all the candidates were quoting Jack Bauer. Now it’s Sheriff Bud B. Boomer.
Are the Republicans for anything, or is it all about destruction? (Yes, I know the answer.)
The debate is not about Canada, it is about America and what is best for us as human beings seeking health care.
Keep pointing at the GOP but the Dems control every part of government and Obama can’t deliver.
The Washington Post-ABC News survey found that less that half of Americans — 49 percent — say they believe the president will make the right decisions for the country. That’s down from 60 percent at the 100-day mark of the Obama presidency.
The poll published Friday says Obama’s overall approval is 57 percent, 12 points lower than it was at its peak in April. Fifty-three percent disapprove of the way he’s handling the budget deficit and his approval on health care continues to deteriorate.
The President took a great issue and mangled it so badly it can’t be rescued. He needs to start over if he wants to win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r84B8mqJ9A
The poll published Friday says Obama’s overall approval is 57 percent, 12 points lower than it was at its peak in April. Fifty-three percent disapprove of the way he’s handling the budget deficit and his approval on health care continues to deteriorate.
57% approval ratings sucks too. You know, I’m coming to realize that the less thinking you do for yourself the less harm you are to society
“The debate is not about Canada, it is about America and what is best for us as human beings seeking health care.”
Than tell us, enlighten us as to what is best for all of us as it relates to health care. Millions of Americans are without health care, don’t argue about the fact that they all need to get a job. Our brother in law was out of work for over 16 months, your run of the mill blue collar working individual and had to shell out over 700 dollars (which was the bare mininum) that he could find for healthcare for him, his wife and his daughter.
The rest of your statement, solidifies my other post which I’ve attached below so you can see it. It appears instead of trying to fix or solve an issue, you seem to be hell bent on continuing the path to destruction of your party.
There was a time that I can remember that being a Republican meant you stood for something that was unquestionable and definitively morally upstanding. It appears those days are gone and all the right wants to do is bitch and complain and replace racially derogatory names with Socialist, fascist, Marxist, communist and whatever else you can think of. Take ownership for a what a f-up your last moron was in there. Just for the record, I would’ve considered voting for McCain if he had enough sense not to get a schmuck for a Vice President candidate. If you want to stand up for something, stand up against all the moronic nonsense that your party evokes continuously. If you’re really about the good of the country than stand up and cut the b.s. in the townhalls and come up with a solution to the healthcare agenda aside from doing what has been status quo…
Come up with a solution Mike, we already understand why you’re party hates Obama, we understand it’s hard to accept the future is a different color. Let’s be realistic though and come up with something tangible.
HR676 the single payer bill is nothing like what Canada has. The repukes like to point to Canada or England as “bad, bad, bad”. The truth about HR676 is that it is a hybrid bill, and american styled bill. Everyone in, nobody out? It covers not just medical, but~~~mental, dental, vision, long term care etc. There are no co pays, deductibles etc. You pick your doctor, your hospital etc, just like you do under Medicare. Under Medicaid the money paid to doctors is much less, therefore some doctors refuse to accept it.
I hear some republicans say they would support the public option IF Obama, Congress, Senators and federal employees would be involved. Now here is something we can agree on. Why should there be a separate plan for the federal, state employees and not the same one for the rest of us. If we deliverd HR676 and everyone is and nobody out, perhaps there can be real support from the dumbed down sheeple.
Under HR 676 there would be standards permiting the government to purchase drugs in volume, bringing prices down! The VA is permitted to purchase their drugs in volume, why not for medicare, medicaid and the american public?
I have no idea why not, anon2. It’s because our political system is as f’ed up as our health care system.
In some Euro. countries everyone,politicians included, share the same plan.
If the politically elite were eager to participate with us common folk, more people from both sides of the political spectrum would,at least, have more confidence in the plan.
The real question is, is it pure narcissism on their part, or is the plan inherently bad?
anon2,
That’s interesting. I didn’t know that there would be a seperate “plan” for them and for the rest of us. I agree, if it’s good then let it be good for everyone. The part that scares me is what you put as far as doctors not accepting it. When I was laid off, my kids were on chip and their long time doctor since they were kids wouldn’t accept Keystone which is what CHIP was.
Quite honestly, I’m beginning to think that we either go “single payer” or not bother with trying to band-aid the current system (which is how I view most of the alternatives floating around in Congress right now).
Mark,
The reason I think they’re trying to “band aid” the current system is because people are scared of change, no matter how much they say they want it. Clinton said it in his Netroots Nation speech – the current beneficiaries of the system oppose it because they know what they have to lose and everyone else doesn’t understand what they have to gain.
I’m all in favor of making Congress take the public option. There was one proposal to allow people to buy into the system that Congress has – and I think that is reflected in the “health care exchange” part of the bill, where many providers are pooled and people can pick from them.
I think once the public option is in place, once it functions well people will stop being scared of it and perhaps reform the system even more. We have to remember, there is a lot of good stuff in the bill – consumer protection against recission and protection against discrimiation for pre-existing conditions. I don’t like the system is still tied to employment but that’s the system we’ve got now.
UI, I understand and partially agree with your point, but I still think that only thing that gets us everything we want AND MAY lower costs is the Single Payer option.
For instance, initially HMO’s saved money, but it was a temporary savings.
I’m just afraid that we”ll cover x amount more (pick a number) with whatever plan is approved, and call it a day. If we do that, we”ll be doing this same thing every year until we get it right 🙂
Mark, I totally agree. I think it was a mistake to take single-payer off the floor in the beginning. How much easier would it be for Democrats to be selling “Medicare For All” than the public option? I think the consumer protections are really important but I agree, if the costs continue to rise, it’s going to be too expensive for almost everyone. I think it is important to get the framework in place with the public option. It can always be improved.
Incrementalism has been on my mind, too. For better or worse, single payer was obviously not going to happen this time around. But if a good strong public option is set up, it may be able to eventually be morphed into a single payer system. As I wrote this morning, this is one place where right wing fears have a core of truth.
However, further change will require further legislation, and if the public option ends up being bad policy and doesn’t work, then it will not be expanded. If, like Social Security, it ends up working well, then an initially narrow program can, over time, be expanded to cover more people.