Prescription plan will do more harm than good

Prescription plan will do more harm than good
EDITOR:
WMDs in Iraq have been explained away as an error by the CIA. I want to address another WMD (Whopper of Mass Deception) -- the recently passed Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.
The bill was drawn up, behind closed doors, with no Democratic representation permitted at the proceedings. The pharmaceutical companies had spent millions of dollars, with hundreds of lobbyists persuading Congressmen to vote for the bill. Bill Tauzin, R-La., was one of the managers of the bill, and is now leaving government to be employed by a drug company at a salary in the millions of dollars. The bill has no restraints to keep the drug companies from raising prescription costs whenever they chose. Is anyone naive enough to think drug costs won't escalate? Initially the Congressional Budget Office sold the plan to Congress reporting it would cost $400 billion over a 10-year period. The ink was barely dry on the president's signature when the cost was changed to $550 billion. With no restraints and no stipulations that drug costs can be negotiated, this figure could skyrocket and eventually bankrupt Medicare. Is this the real plan in progress?
Why did AARP support the plan? The drug companies spent millions lobbying AARP and AARP can realize huge revenues by selling insurance and prescriptions to senior citizens. Newt Gingrich stated in one of his books, "Medicare will wither on the vine in years to come." It interests me that the president of AARP is friendly with Gingrich and wrote an acknowledgment in Gingrich's book.
When the bill was introduced, with hundreds of pages and only a few days for Congress to review it, the vote came before the House for a 15 minute vote. When the bill was defeated, in the middle of the night and after 15 minutes, the majority held the vote open for over three hours.
Why is the plan nonexistent, except for a discount card in the spring, until 2006? Why are there TV ads, paid for with tax dollars to the tune of $10 million and more millions to be spent on letters to seniors selling them the plan? By the way, the ads are orchestrated by the organization that's designing the campaign TV ads for Bush's re-election.
If the bill isn't overturned it will be long after the 2004 presidential election before the American public is aware of what's happened.
Make no mistake, this bogus plan, with no restrictions on drug companies, will affect not only seniors but every American citizen who purchases prescription drugs. Skyrocketing medical and drug costs have already caused higher insurance rates than are unaffordable to most Americans without the implementation of this deceptive plan. Further, why is there opposition to buying drugs from Canada? Canada negotiates with drug companies for lower prices -- an option this plan doesn't permit. We're told the drugs from Canada might not be safe, even though Canadians don't seem to be having any adverse effects from taking them?
JANET M. WALLS
Youngstown
Warren police would suffer less abuse if they got blue flu
EDITOR:
The recent hoopla made because two Warren policemen were doing their duty and in the course of that duty did pat down a Warren citizen and search his car has me shaking my head in amazement.
The Warren citizen involved has been all over the news stating the policeman searching him & quot;came up my crotch hard like a stump. & quot; Come on! YSU's criminal justice teacher had his 15 seconds of fame also. He gave his opinion that the search was illegal, as was the pat down. Did either of these men see the tape? It showed a policeman searching another man exactly by the book. There was calm during the search and after. Do either of these men know when a search should take place? (Makes me wonder about YSU's Criminal Justice Department.)
Must have been a slow news week. It might be easy for a Warren policeman to just go out there -- drive around and not do anything. After all, putting your life on the line every night trying to keep the streets safe is not an easy job. They have to protect themselves as well as every Warren citizen.
The events caught on that tape showed two Warren policemen doing their job. I think I would just catch the blue flu!
PATRICIA NIGHTINGALE
North Jackson