prescription drugs

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health action 2008

Bills in Brief

It took over a decade for health care reform to lose its Clinton-era-induced taboo status - but while health care policy is coming back in vogue, America will have to wait until 2009 before any major reforms become ripe for passage.

In the meantime, in 2007 Congress set out to pass a series of mini health care initiatives - which it may follow up on in 2008:

SCHIP. Congress head butted with Bush last year over expanding State Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers low income children who aren't low income enough to qualify for Medicaid. Congress, which wanted to double the scope of the act, lost. It may still give it a second go in '08. Meanwhile, the administration sent states a letter saying they had to tighten eligibility for SCHIP, only to have the GAO weigh in that the administration overstepped its legal boungs (GAO).

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issue guide: Global Warming

Links

Fairly nonpartisan sources

The US Environmental Protection Agency has been criticized by environmentalists as being too business-friendly, but recent statements from the agency on climate change suggest it's warming up to environmentalist views. The US Climate Change Science Program, a government agency, also seems to feel to speak its mind.
Pew is also as balanced as you'll get on global warming, although at the end of the day they lean more left than right.
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health bills 2007

Bills in Brief

It took over a decade for health care reform to lose its Clinton-era-induced taboo status - but while health care policy is coming back in vogue, America will likely have to wait until 2009 before any major reforms become ripe for passage.

In the meantime, in 2007 Congress set out to pass a series of mini health care inititiatives - which citizenJoe kept track of here:

SCHIP. The State Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers low income children who aren't low income enough to qualify for Medicaid, was up for renewal this year - and Dems (with the help of moderate Republicans) locked horns with president to try to double the scope of the act. In late September, the House and Senate passed a bill that would increase spending on SCHIP to $60b over five years (up from $25b), paid for by a 61cent tax on ciggies.
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prescription drugs

Facts

Policy talk on prescription drugs centers around rising drug costs and what people are doing to bring those costs down – either as individuals, by buying foreign drugs on line, or in Congress, with passage of the Medicare prescription drug act and possible plans to re-import inexpensive drugs.

How much we use

Percent of population that takes at least one prescription drug per month by age (2000) NCHS -PDF:

Under 18 years old: 24.1%

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prescription drugs

issue guide: Medicare Prescription Drug Act

Pro & Con

What the Supporters
are Saying

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act is a necessary first step toward alleviating rising costs of health care and prescription drugs in particular, especially for the nation's seniors. By re-establishing prescription drug coverage and opening Medicare to competition from private health insurers, this act became the most extensive revision to the program since Medicare was enacted in 1965.

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prescription drugs

issue guide: Medicare Prescription Drug Act

The Skinny

What's Up

To ease the pain of surging prescription drugs costs for seniors, Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 2003, giving aid to millions of elderly who previously had no prescription drug coverage. The act went into effect in two stages, with the most seniors getting the benefit of the plan starting in 2006. Although the act passed with the support of AARP, the country’s largest seniors organization, and was at first seen as a victory for a Republican controlled Congress, it’s come under criticism by those who say that it’s confusing, too expensive and doesn’t go far enough to bring down drug costs for seniors.

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prescription drugs

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