Yet another of Bush's Orwelian twists, Bush claims to be actively supporting
the fight against AID's in the third world and uses his so called 15 billion
dollar anti AID's commitment to Africa to support that claim. Yet here it is
two years after that budget allocation was made and little of the money has
been actually sent to Africa.

His insistence that no money can go to CBO's that do not follow his
abstinence only education plan or that do not use US drugs has severely and
negatively effected the ability to fight AID's in Africa. At the same time
he and his religious right backers in the house of representatives have
gutted ADAP and other domestic HIV/AIDS programs.

Again his religious based rather then science based policies have inserted
them selves into the CDC and NIH research programs severely limiting the
ability of scientists to perform the type of research that have as there
goal understanding human sexuality so that fact based programs aimed at
preventing HIV infection can be developed. Rather his administration is
fixated on the idea of abstinence as the only method of preventing HIV
infection. Even though the scientific literature is clear that abstinence
programs are only effective for a tiny percentage of those who are at risk
for HIV infection.

Kerry on the other hand has a much better understanding of the issues
involved regarding HIV and AIDS and will not let religion trump science when
it comes to making policy decisions regarding HIV and AIDS. Kerry does
support ADAP and the Ryan White Act as well as allowing US financial aid to
be sent to Africa without attaching the ludicrous and dangerous restrictions
as to how it can be spent. He understands that the health professionals
closest to there nations populations in Africa are in a better position to
know how the money can best be utilized in there nations then do a bunch of
religion guided non-scientists here in the US.

Under the Bush administration the NIH and CDC have severely reduced there
participation in international AIDS conferences, has been actively engaged
in blocking UN anti-HIV initiatives, and is moving inexorably back to the
bad old days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic when the patient was blamed for there
HIV Status and treated like more like a criminal then a patient.

His so called "Responsibility Society" is in realty a society were HIV
patients, drug addicts, alcoholics, the disabled and the poor are considered
to be at fault for there life situation and the government should have no
obligation to help them to improve there lives and health ( though if they
are willing to convert to Evangelical Christianity they can get help through
his so called faith based initiatives). Only those with the financial
resources to purchase medical, and other rehabilitation services out of
there own pocket will be able to get help. The rest will be deemed drains on
society or dangerous to society and either jailed, quarantined or left to
die if Bush is reelected for a second term.

Bush makes no secret of his plans, his administration and the Republican
party have published position papers that outline there long term goals.
Through the disguise of enacting tax cuts they state that they will de-fund
the federal government to such an extreme extent that they will be able to
convince the Democrat's under pressure from Wall Street, the Bond Markets
and Alan Greenspan that to bring under control the currently outrageous
budget deficits and the fiscal crisis in the Medicare program they must cut
domesticate spending dramatically. These cuts will have to be so large and
widespread that the end result will be the complete dismantling of almost
all social programs designed to help the poor and disadvantaged in this
country.

His plan to allow younger workers to invest part of there Social Security
Taxes into private investments in stocks and bonds will cost the Medicare
system between One Trillion and One and a Half Trillion dollars requiring
either a 25% to 30% decrease in Medicare benefits to those currently
receiving them or a huge increase in the Social Security Tax rate.

His new prescription drug benefit is a complete joke the main beneficiary of
which is big business through tax credits for maintaining there current
employee and retirees health insurance plans and the Pharmaceutical industry
to the tune of $149 billion dollars. While forbidding the elderly to keep
there current Medigap plans and only providing 1/2 to 1/4 of the benefits of
many of the Medigap plans they are replacing.

This law specifically forbids the Social Security Administration from using
it's buying power to negotiate lower prices from the Pharmaceutical Industry
in the way that the US Veterans Administration and the rest of the nations
of the world do. US veterans receive prices for the same drugs that Medicare
recipients buy at rates up to 50% lower. Yet there are tens of millions more
Medicare recipients then there are people who qualify for Veterans benefits.
How is that the Bush administration believes it is fine for the Veterans
Administration to use it's buying power to reduce the price it's
beneficiaries pay for drugs but Medicare beneficiaries do not deserve the
same service from it's government. It is clear that President Bush does not
care about the American middle class, elderly, disabled or poor. His reason
for not stopping the Veterans Administration from negotiating prices is that
the US government picks up a much higher percentage of the cost for veterans
medications thus the majority of the saving goes to the government rather
then the individual veteran, this is not true under the current Medicare
Prescription drug plan in which the majority of the costs are born by the
beneficiary not the government.

It was widely reported in the press that the Pharmaceutical industry raised
the prices of there products by a minimum of 15% some as high as 400% prior
to the start date of the so called Prescription Drug Discount cards that are
part of the new benefit plan thus seniors will see no savings during the
first phase of the bills implementation.

When the final phase of the bill is implemented the discount card will go
away and Medicare recipients will be charged a new fee deducted from there
all ready meager Social Security Check that will then provide them with some
prescription drug coverage under Medicare. Though they have the option to
join or not join the new plan there are very large financial consequences
for someone who declines to join the new plan during the initial open
enrollment period and then at some latter date needs to do so. So in reality
there is really no choice for anyone who is not financially well off. The
new plan requires the patient to pay out of pocket costs of something on the
order of $7,500 before the catastrophic portion of the plan is triggered
after which the plan will then cover all further medication costs for the
rest of that calendar year. The fact that if you sign up for the new benefit
(which as explained above is not really a free choice) you must cancel all
Medigap insurance that you may currently have is full of ambiguities that
have not as of this date been adequately explained to the general public.

The law has a clause that states only certified health plans that are not
Medigap may be maintained by Medicare beneficiaries who sign up for the new
prescription drug benefit. These certified plans are such things as health
insurance that is provided as part of a retirement benefit provided by the
beneficiaries former employer, insurance coverage provided by the employer
of a spouse who is still in the work force, state and federal government
retirees health plans. But the big question that has not been answered is if
a Medicare beneficiary has a private insurance policy that is not
specifically marketed as Medigap Insurance Plan will that policy be a
certified plan or will it be deemed a Medigap Plan. Also many states such as
Washington, Oregon, California and others have high risk insurance pools or
state run insurance plans for the poor, disabled and elderly and so far the
federal government has made little mention of these plans and how they will
be treated by Medicare when the new prescription drug program takes effect.

There is an additional benefit for those who are at or bellow the federal
poverty level which does provide more benefits but even that is woefully
inadequate for those suffering from HIV or AIDS due to the extremely high
cost of AIDS medications. For example I make about 400% of the federal
poverty level because I have a private disability insurance benefit thus
would not be covered under the low income plan, nor do I qualify for ADAP,
yet my total monthly drug costs before insurance are 3.5 times higher then
my monthly income.

I currently pay $395 a month in premiums to the Washington State High Risk
Insurance Pool plan (WHSIP) plus an additional $100 monthly in co-pays for
my medications about $30 in co-pays for medical care. Which pretty much
takes care of my Social Security Check leaving only my private disability
benefit to live on. If I am forced to cancel my insurance policy in-order to
get the Medicare Benefit (which I must sign up for because my private
disability insurance ends at age 62 and if you wait to sign up past the open
enrollment period your costs for the coverage when you do sign up will be
more then twice as high as what is charged to those who sign up during the
open enrollment period). I am totally unsure as to just what will happen but
my costs will defiantly increase substantially. Even if I am able to stay
with the WHISP plan I will still have to sign up and pay for the new
Medicare benefit even though I will get no financial benefits from doing so
until after age 62.

Gary Stein

Must you troll your pro-bush agenda through all the newsgroups?

B/