Food Or Medicine : A Choice No Senator Will Ever Have To Make

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Food Or Medicine: A Choice No Senator Will Ever Have To Make
by Dave Gibson, Columnist

August 5, 2002

Dave Gibson The recent vote in the U.S. Senate which killed any hope of a prescription drug plan for Medicare recipients was not only a display of 'politics as usual', but one of thoughtless cruelty. Our senior citizens have sacrificed so much for this nation and now when they need help, our politicians have turned their collective back to our parents and grandparents.

For many senior citizens the cost of prescription drugs runs into several hundred dollars a month. Too many of them have to make a terrible choice: medicine or a little more food on the table. That is a choice that no U.S. Senator will ever have to make.

Our elderly are in a sad state today. They are given very costly prescriptions by doctors (who are 'wined and dined' by pharmaceutical sales reps.), knowing that there are usually viable generic drugs that will treat the problem just as well. Many times the patient returns to the doctor months later, no better or in even worse condition. They are too embarrassed to tell the doctor they cannot afford the medicine, and the doctor usually does not ask.

The multibillion - dollar drug industry does not care that these people are suffering. They know that most of the time, people will sacrifice other things for their medicine. They will get paid one way or another. That is why the drug companies have been so aggressive in lobbying efforts over the past several years.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics : Pfizer alone has contributed $1.2 million to Congressional candidates this year, while over two-thirds of that money has gone to Republicans. Pharmacia which was just purchased by Pfizer has given just under $1 million, once again most of it going to Republicans.

Pfizer also employs some rather influential lobbyists such as former Congressmen Bill Paxon (R-NY), and Norman Lent (R-NY), also former Senator Dennis DeConcini (R-AZ). Even the sons of the powerful in Washington have gotten into the act, Scott Hatch (son of Sen. Orrin Hatch - R-UT) draws a paycheck from Pfizer. These 'movers and shakers' do not work cheaply - actually since 1997, Pfizer has shelled out $20 million in lobbying expenses.

The same worthless politicians who found it very easy to dismiss the needs of our most vulnerable and probably most valuable citizens, seem to have no difficulty at all living off the backs of the American people. In fact our hypocritical Senators enjoy a huge salary complete with full medical benefits, to which our senior citizens have helped contribute. Do you suppose any members of Congress have ever thought about the irony in that situation?

I have come to the conclusion that the only difference between Democrats and Republicans is which special interest group is paying their expenses. The issue of making prescription drugs affordable to those people who have worked their whole lives, paid their dues, and more than their fair share of taxes...should not be a conservative nor a liberal issue. It should be merely one of common decency.

The recent vote by the Senate has shown the lack of compassion and even the contempt felt for the American people by our own politicians. The U.S. House of Representatives has become the U.S. House of Commons, while the Senate has evolved into the U.S. House of Lords. I hope that this November, we will see more gray - haired voters than ever before and that they will remind these pompous gluttons that this is a democracy.

It is time for decent people to be heard and we can start by 'dethroning' our indecent politicians. ***

Photo of Dave Gibson courtesy of staff files