"Medicare must be modernized" -- Bush

The anti-tax, anti-government Republicans convinced themselves and enough of the American people that the US Medicare bailout is a good thing. It is a good deal, but for whom? The synthetic pill-makers and the insurance companies are the beneficiaries of the Medicare overhaul while the people pay through the nose for high cost drugs. All this while the people waste their health thinking they are being healthy by drinking DIET sodas. One woman I spoke with couldn't understand why she hadn't lost weight because she was drinking diet soda. Diet sodas contain nutra sweet and it does not make you lose weight. Nutra Sweet creates many of the illnesses that go undiagnosed by doctors and create the symtoms that drive people to use medicare: headaches, loss of sleep, irritableness, and 15% of users actually gain not lose weight. Nutra Sweet is the bane of society, will Splenda, the next artificial sweetener be next? Back to medicare.

The burning question remains; why aren't the real culprits in the medicare debacle being mentioned - the drug and insurance companies. The focus of discussion about healthcare is always on how are we going to pay the drug and insurance companies instead of asking why don't we eliminate them with the single payer insurance system using alternative medicines? Could this increased extortion by the drug companies be the result of more Americans turning to natural medicines as their healing of choice and the drug sellers have to turn to robbing the American public to stay in profits?

Finally they have modernized healthcare in America. The drug companies can increase the cost of their products while the insurance companies shift the payment onto the people. The Medicare rip-off begins in earnest in post election 2006 providing hundreds of millions of dollars in windfall profits to drug manufacturers and doctors who are profiteering by pumping patients full of overpriced drugs. My 70 year old mother has a $1500/month drug bill paid for by Medicare and the state of Minnesota. But this is changing with a rising deductible and co-pay now seen in the rising cost of privatized healthcare.

This bill burdens the American taxpayer with an extra $80 billion over a ten year period. Bush wanted less from the taxpayers and more from individuals so the compromise is a mish mash of ideas on these key points:

40% of the bill's Medicare spending goes to HMOs, while only about 15% of the bill's money goes to drug users

Creation of tax-preferred health savings accounts, open to individuals who purchase high-deductible health insurance policies - the wealthy get tax write-offs

This bill does nothing to hold down drug costs

Seniors pay higher prices for their prescription drugs than the rest of the population while paying the ultimate cost - their health. People over 65 are not included in the drug company research tests that convince the FDA to place their drugs on the market - negative side effects are rampant among the elderly, including loss of memory

Medicare does not cover all the drugs used on the market

HMOs are deciding what drugs doctors can and cannot prescribe for patients

Business is locked into paying for health care for their employees - the single payer system means companies would no longer carry this burden

Beginning in 2006, seniors can purchase coverage for their prescription drugs with a drug insurance premium of $35 a month, with a annual $250 deductible to rise to $445 by 2013. After the drug users agree to the monthly premiums and pay their first $250 in pharmacy bills, the coverage kicks in, paying 75 percent of the bill between $250 and $2,250.

After that, there is no coverage until patient' drug bills for the year reached $5,100, leaving a gap of $2,850 that they have to pay out of their own pockets. Above $5,100 the insurance picks up roughly 95 percent of costs.

The use of these synthetic drugs has a hold on Americans and we are being asked to pay for our own drugging even if we don't use the drugs. I must recommend that we the people continue to come to our senses by using non-synthetic medicines in our healings. We are very trusting of our medical institution and this trust is now clearly being misused to benefit the wrong people - the drug companies, the AMA doctors, and the insurance companies. It is time for this extortion to end. Bring on the single payer (non-insurance company) system and legalize Naturopathy in all 50 states.

When I was asked in the co-op if I supported cancer I naturally said no. The cashier said, no I mean would you like to donate money to support a cure for cancer? I said I would donate money when it was to a legal fund to legalize all of the cures for cancer that are illegal in our country and not in others. That pretty much sums up the pitiful state of our unethical healthcare system.