LTE: Disinformation is dangerous
Editor, Gettysburg Times,
I found the July 2 op ed titled “Democrats want to raid Medicare to pay for Obamacare — again” a troubling spread of disinformation. Consider the source: author Phil Kerpen, a prominent member of several conservative organizations (see Wikipedia), who do not share the values of most Americans and are less than truthful in their statements about Democratic policies and legislation.
I shared Kerpen’s op ed with the non-partisan Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN), and they, in turn, with Healthcare for America Now (HCAN), a political advocacy group of more than 1,000 organizations. HCAN’s retort about the Kerpen piece is as follows: “This is nothing more than the same tired and false talking points that the big pharmaceutical corporations have used for more than a decade to protect their monopoly control over prices and stop any legislation that could limit their power to price-gouge patients by raising prices any time they want. Kerpen’s assertions wouldn’t survive the most basic fact checking.”
According to HCAN, the truth about the Democrats’ bill to lower prescription drug costs is this: “It would finally rein in big Pharma’s price-gouging and make medicines more affordable for millions of Americans by requiring drug corporations to negotiate prices in Medicare for the first time. Negotiated prices already exist in Medicaid and in the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, where both patients and taxpayers pay much less for medicines.
“The bill will lower prices, cut costs and stop the drug corporations from raising their prices faster than the rate of inflation. It will not only bring much needed relief to consumers, it will also save the government nearly $300 billion dollars.”
Without this reform, Big Pharma will be allowed to continue to set and raise prices completely unchecked, boosting their profits while millions go without medicine. We Americans will continue to pay as much as twice the cost for a medication as people in most other countries are paying for the same medication.
Gettysburg Times readers deserve the truth — not Big Pharma talking points.
Dwight I. Michael,
Gettysburg