The Democrat Utopia
- Thread starter GBR0988
- Start date
A story was just published within a day showing the Biden Admin finally released documents showing Hunter was asking the State Department for help on his Burisma deal while Joe was VP.
Amazingly enough the NYT published it.
Guy Chamberlin
Active member
In general.
I'm not disagreeing that Biden's been doing his job -- and it's a fairly big one -- just interesting how quickly he got relegated to the shadows.
I've always assumed Joe Biden has been making difficult decisions regarding Gaza, Iran, Russia, immigration and consumer protection while we were talking about tampons in the boys room.
Guy Chamberlin
Active member
Everything we know about Hunter Biden has been covered in the mainstream media.
That notorious f#&%-up Hunter Biden was trading on his influential father should not come as news to anyone. It's old news that the Obama administration was aware of and concerned about Hunter influence peddling in Ukraine. And yet, at the end of the day, nobody could connect potential misdeeds to real-world misdeeds on the part of Joe Biden. The whistle-blower expected to do so admitted he saw nothing untoward in Joe's actions, and the star witness turned out to be a Russian spy.
Moving on..........
I don’t think NYT’s was quite ready to move on to their credit…..unfortunately the State Department is still stonewalling in releasing the request letter.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/us/politics/hunter-biden-ukrainian-company.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/us/politics/hunter-biden-ukrainian-company.html
Guy Chamberlin
Active member
It's legitimate news. But it only gets elevated above more pressing concerns if it affects the electability of a Presidential candidate. Hard to say if the 2016 outreach to an Italian ambassador qualifies as a bombshell, given all that preceded it.
You're giving a lot of credit to the New York Times for pursuing this story, but a :10 Google search confirms every liberal media outlet is also covering this latest development.
Danny Bateman
Donor
Danny Bateman
Donor
SoCIaLiZeD MeDIcINe!
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Danny Bateman
Donor
Pretty cool graphic on the negotiated drug prices above. It's insane Medicare was prevented from doing this for so long from a consumer perspective.
Lower prices are great! A couple things to understand though.Pretty cool graphic on the negotiated drug prices above. It's insane Medicare was prevented from doing this for so long from a consumer perspective.
That list price isn’t what is currently being charged. So what CMS pays currently is closer to what the negotiated price is already.
About 30% now and upwards of 45% in the next few years but or will hit the out of pocket max so the discounts don’t really affect them at all because they get free drug for parts of the year on the old plan and the new plan. Their out of pocket cash outlays will be the same.
However, the Part D premiums are expected to rise for everyone by close to 50% which will end up making people actually pay more money out of pocket overall than under the new plan of “reduced costs”. Consumers don’t care what the “price” of their care is, they generally care about what their specific “overall costs” is.
This certainly can and will help some people and should lower some costs minimally for the federal government. Though, if the government REALLY wants to lower its costs, focusing on Part D is the least efficient way of going about it. That is only about 10% of healthcare spending last I checked.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/11/21/retirees-face-significantly-higher-medicare-part-d-drug-costs-in-2024.html
The cost of the average premiums will rise between 42% and 57% in 2024 compared to 2023 in five states with the largest populations of individuals over 65 who are on Medicare, according to a new analysis by HealthView Services, a provider of health care cost data.
That represents an increase ranging from $128.32 to $380.96 from 2023 to 2024, according to the firm. The calculations are based on three of the largest Medicare providers in each state.
The five states include California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.
JJ Husker
Donor
It’s great that somebody is trying to get the costs down, for patients and the government but still, look at these prices. They’re ridiculously high. I realize these are some of the newer high dollar drugs but what about some of the more common lower cost drugs? I guess they get maximum bang for the buck on these. I sure would like to see a list of 200+ more standard everyday items that they got the cost down on.Pretty cool graphic on the negotiated drug prices above. It's insane Medicare was prevented from doing this for so long from a consumer perspective.
Basically anything you see advertised on TV is up in the multiple thousand dollar range. IMO it should be illegal to charge that kind of money for a Rx.
knapplc
Active member
Pretty cool graphic on the negotiated drug prices above. It's insane Medicare was prevented from doing this for so long from a consumer perspective.
Thanks Joe Biden!
Let me first state that Drug costs are too high. Maybe one thing the federal government could do along with negotiating prices is not make it so an approval costs on average $1billion from concept to market.
JJ Husker
Donor
I would agree with that. The government should do whatever they can to reduce approval and R&D costs.
And this might be out there, IDK, but maybe set a cap on what they can sell any drug for. Like don’t even bother developing a drug that you can’t sell for under $4k for the first year or two, then maybe $2k max for the next few years. At $4k per, that is only 250,000 prescriptions to break even on a billion in development/approval. Also, maybe prohibit them from engaging in all the high dollar ad buys for $4k plus Rx’s that most people can’t afford.
All these new biologicals are insane. I did a couple infusions of Entyvio. (It didn’t work for me btw). The first one, bill rate $24,000, $14,000 after insurance discount and then my cost was only like $50 or $100 with the drug company’s support program. But the 2nd one, my insurer mistakenly canceled my coverage without my prior knowledge and the provider (hospital infusion center) wanted to collect the full $24k from me. I had to contact the state insurance division and they forced Kaiser to retroactively reinstate my insurance and cover it. But that little fiasco caused me some anxiety for a few months. IMO, if you have to charge that kind of money for a drug, it doesn’t even need to exist.