"One tablet of Lipitor - a popular cholesterol-lowering medication - costs US$4.70 a tablet stateside. In Canada, for the same tablet, put in the same bottle, made by the same company, you pay $1.70."Now how could that be? We are the United States, the country of origin when it comes to Lipitor but we pay two and half times more for it than the Canadians do?
Under federal law, pharmaceutical companies are the only ones legally allowed to import prescription drugs approved by the FDA into the United States.
Let me give a quick rundown on why that is. You see, back in 2003 when our federal government was completely dominated by Republicans we had a huge health care reform bill crammed down our throats. This Republican bill, The Republican Prescription Drug Ripoff and Scam the American People Plan of 2003, and aka, Medicare Modernization Act or, Medicare Part D, was bigger and more costly than even what 'ObamaCare' is projected to cost.
And it wasn't your standard reform bill that one would expect would benefit the American people -- I did say it was done by Republicans -- but one that was done to benefit the pharmaceutical companies who had been major contributors to Republicans for many years leading up to their massive taxpayer funded payback.
The Republican drug scam bill of 2003 was passed with 91% of congressional Republicans voting yes while 89% of the Democrats voted 'no'. The Republicans wrote the bill so that the pharmaceutical companies would not have to compete for any pricing on their products. It was just like giving their old pals a $1.3 trillion blank check. The industry was so grateful they hired some of the key Republicans for a couple million dollars a year to show their gratitude and the sheep headed back to their pen.
The Teabaggers didn't throw a single tea party back in 2003.
Maybe it's only socialism when a Black guy tries it. But think about that; it was only six short years ago, it was a huge health care reform bill that was more costly than ObamaCare and the goddamn teabaggers didn't say a word. Not single peep from any of those sheep. And I'll bet you those are the same teabagging sheep who said nothing for 7 1/2 long years but are now all of sudden all gung-ho about Afghanistan. Wanna bet?
