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Democrats Negotiating Drug Prices
The insurers of the roughly 22.5
million seniors and disabled enrolled in federally subsidized
private plans negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over the
price of covered drugs, but the Democrats coming into Congress
have promised a new approach. The incoming lawmakers have
discussed using federal purchasing power to negotiate drug
prices, produce substantial savings, and improve the overall
program.
The government, this year alone, is expected to spend
$31 billion on Medicare Plan D, and next year it is estimated
to increase approximately another $19 billion, to a total of
$51 billion. In 2003, the government which is controlled by
the Republican's wrote rules that preclude Medicare from
negotiating prices directly with the pharmaceutical industry.
Now, once the Democrats are in control in January, their top
priority was to lower the prices of the prescription drugs.
However, Bush's administration has said that they will oppose
this plan.
The Secretary of Health and Human services, Michael
Leavitt has stated that "in politics, most specific issues
like this are a disguise for a larger difference. Government
negotiation of drug prices does not work unless you have a
program completely run by the government. Democrats say they
want the government to negotiate prices. What they really want
is the government-run health
care."
According to the New York Times, "Nancy Pelosi, a
democrat has said that the house will take up legislation to
repeal that ban in its first 100 hours under Democratic
control. If the federal government was to negotiate prices, it
would generate significant savings, which could be used to
close doughnut hole in the Medicare Plan D
coverage."
Medicare currently pays for medications through private
insurers, which are running Plan D. These insurers pay much
higher prices for drugs than government plans such as Medicaid
and the Veterans Administration, which are allowed to contract
for lower prices. Pharmaceutical companies are legally
required to give Medicaid plans at least a 15 percent discount
on manufactured drugs. It would seem that Plan D should have
similar discounts, but this is not allowed in the current Plan
D. Fortunately, the newly elected Democratic Congress wants to
correct this serious problem, if the Bush Administration would
allow it.
For
more information on negotiating drug prices
visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/washington/13medicare.html
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High Blood Pressure linked to Sleep Deprivation
High blood pressure is a common
problem world wide.
After doing research, researchers believe that one of
the factors which plays a role in blood pressure is lack of
sleep. If so, you
may be increasing the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Studies which have been done in the United States have shown
that Americans have been sleeping less each night than is
recommended, which lead some people to suspect that there is a
relationship between the amount of sleep you get each night
and blood pressure. Experiments were conducted with people who
were suffering from high blood pressure as well as people that
have normal blood pressure. From these experiments researchers
found that the individuals that were tested, when their sleep
was cut short their blood pressure had increased. For more
details on exactly how the study/or experiment was conducted
visit:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3039197
High blood pressure is not solely
dependent on the amount of sleep you get each night, there are
many other factors which need to be considered before
pinpointing the reasons of hypertension. It is known that while
a person is sleeping their blood pressure is low and it
immediately increases when a person wakens. Thus, on average,
people would have higher blood pressure when not getting
enough sleep because they would have shorter periods of low
blood pressure.
James Gangwisch, MD, the lead author
of the study from the
College of
Physicians and Surgeons at
Columbia
University in
New York,
NY tries to
explain the different relationships found between the lack of
sleep and the risk of high blood pressure in younger and older
age groups. "First, subjects experiencing hypertension,
obesity and diabetes would be less likely to survive into
their later years. Second, advanced age is associated with
changes in sleep architecture with increased difficulties in
sleep initiation and maintenance. Elderly subjects, who are
often retired, also have more opportunities to take naps
during the day. Third, sleep disordered breathing is
associated with hypertension in subjects below the age of 60
years but not in subjects 60 years of age or older." In an American poll,
the National Sleep Foundation 2002, the lack of sleep was
associated with irritability, impatience, pessimism, and
feeling tired and stressed.
All of the studies suggest that lack
of sleep contributes to high blood pressure, however the link
between the two are not definitively established. Much more
research needs to be done to get a good understanding of the
two being linked.
As a result, getting enough sleep is very important to
your health, which can prevent many other problems caused by
high blood pressure.
For information on blood pressure medications, visit
our website www.CanadaDrugsOnline.com.
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Your Comments
"Thank
you for being available to the public. It is so discouraging
to need medications and find them priced so high in the
United
States. In the past we have
purchased our needed drugs while traveling in
Mexico or
in
Europe. Why must the
United
States drug companies need to
make such high profits?"
LP
"God it sure is nice to talk to a real polite
person, one can hear the smile on their face when they answer
the phone and Canadian too. I love our accent, you see I live
in the
USA, for several
years and pay way too much for my drugs so I am so happy to
get them from home. CanadaDrugsOnline has fast service, low
costs, I have given this website to many fellow Americans and
Canadians that live down here. Hopefully they will follow suit
and save save save. Especially since the October
9th, allowing drugs to pass freely within reason,
you know what I mean throughout the mail
system."
DS
"I just wanted to say how happy I am
with your service, from the nice people that I have talked to
the fast receiving of my order. I will not hesitate to order
from you again. Thanks..."
SB
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