Al Gore and George W. Bush this week resumed the drug wars that had been brewing earlier this summer between the Clintonians and Gekkonians.

True to form, Bush's plan relies on the private insurance industry, while Gore's plan places control squarely with the Federal Government.

Bush's plan is in line with the legislation pushed through the House by congressional Republicans earlier this year.  It would be a voluntary drug plan for seniors, with drug coverage provided by insurance companies subsidized by the government.  Bush's proposal (released to the press on September 5), does not address any of the shortcomings pointed out by us, or by his Democrat rival.  It remains up in the air as to how such a plan will work, when the insurance industry (still trying to recover from the Medicare-HMO debacle) has no intention of losing their shirts by selling drug insurance.  YourDoctorintheFamily.com has been tracking the Republican strategy for you, and Bush's "new" proposal leaves the same old issues open:

Gekkonian Drug Wars

The new Gekkonian drug plan

Gore's plan, of course, is reflective of the massive new government-controlled Medicare drug benefit recently proposed by President Clinton. And, of course, all Gore's speeches on the need for such a new entitlement are laced with attacks on the American pharmaceutical industry for "price gouging."  Only the highly credulous could fail to see that the ultimate goal of the Clintonians is to gain control of every aspect of the health care system, and that any new federal prescription drug benefit (whether proposed by Democrats or Republicans) would ultimately lead to federal drug price controls in one form or another.  

That the drug companies have been getting set up for a good Philip Morrising has been apparent for some time now.  YourDoctorintheFamily.com has been keeping its loyal readers fully apprised of the Clintonians' progress in this regard. See the following commentaries for a review:

Drug companies: Prepare to be Phillip Morrised

Phillip Morrising the Drug Companies - Part 2

Phillip Morrising the Drug Companies - Part 3 

A Medicare Drug-benefit Scorecard

With all that has been going on, Gore until recently managed to keep his hands clean.  But with his new pronouncements of "price gouging," Gore has managed to do what has remained unspoken until now.  He has created a direct, explicit linkage between a new Medicare prescription drug benefit and the need for federal controls over drug prices.  

Now that some form of a federally-mandated Medicare drug benefit is virtually assured, federal controls of drug pricing is merely a matter of time.  For Gore to have made his desire for price controls quite explicit doesn't change a thing - those controls will happen whether he's for them or not.  All Gore managed to do was to place himself publicly in favor of such price controls.  It was a political calculation.

We at YourDoctorintheFamily.com are terrible judges of public opinion.  We would have thought it inopportune for Gore to come out for price controls on pharmaceutical companies.  We would have guessed that for him to do so openly would be a (forgive us) a risky scheme.  Do the American people so strongly favor federal controls over the pharmaceutical industry that Gore will gain a political advantage for voicing a desire for such controls?  Perhaps they do. One could argue that the polls since the Democratic Convention reflect just that. 

But we would argue that Gore's recent resurgence in the polls merely reflects a kiss. 

09/07/2000

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