Subject: [big campaign] FW: MarkUpdate: Republicans Want To Keep Insurance & Drug Companies In Charge
From: "Adam Jentleson (CAPAF)" <[email-masked]>
To: "[email-masked]'" <[email-masked]>, Adam Jentleson <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:16:08 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Fyi -- our pushback on day 2 of the HELP markup.

________________________________
From: Progressive Media [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 4:07 PM
To: Adam Jentleson
Subject: MarkUpdate: Republicans Want To Keep Insurance & Drug Companies In Charge

View in your web browser<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/es.aspx?s=785&e=ff8bcd1bf6b44d56a86b404208d1bcd8&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>

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A PROJECT OF CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=216&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4> AND MEDIA MATTERS ACTION<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=19774&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>

June 18, 2009
MARKUPDATE

Republicans Want To Keep Insurance Companies In Charge.

 *   The Coburn/Burr "alternative plan" would keep insurance companies in charge by failing to provide sufficient protections against abusive insurance company practices - like denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

    *   Today, insurance companies use the flimsiest reasons to deny people coverage - for instance, a woman in Los Angeles was denied coverage for her breast cancer because she failed to disclose that she had visited a dermatologist<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=22926&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>.

    *   Under the Coburn plan, insurance companies could continue this practice - called "rescission," which "has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=22926&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>," according to the L.A. Times.

 *   The Coburn/Burr plan would also unravel the employer-based system, and replace it with an insufficient tax credit that doesn't even cover half of the average family's medical costs.

    *   The $5,700-per-family tax subsidy<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=21614&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4> proposed in the Coburn plan is less than half of the $12,680 that the average American family paid for health care in 2008<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=21615&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>.

Republicans Want To Keep Drug Companies In Charge, And Are Blocking Efforts To Give You And Your Doctor More Power Over Your Medical Decisions.

 *   Would You Trust A Drug Company To Tell You Which Drug Is Right For You? Today, that's exactly what doctors have to do - they have to rely on drug companies for vital information<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=22510&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4> about life and death procedures.

 *   Newt Gingrich and John Kerry wrote<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=22509&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>, "a doctor today can get more data on the starting third baseman on his fantasy baseball team than on the effectiveness of life-and-death medical procedures." And because they lack reliable sources of unbiased information, often doctors cannot challenge the information they get from drug companies<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=22510&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>.

 *   But today, Republicans are trying to block measures<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=22510&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4> that would put you and your doctor in charge - measures that would give you and your doctor more reliable information, and more power over your own medical decisions.

 *   They want to keep the status quo - where drug companies and insurance companies are in charge.

Backers Of Pro-Drug Industry Bill Have Received Millions From Pharmaceutical Industry.

 *   Sens. Kyl and McConnell co-sponsored a bill backed by the pharmaceutical industry that would block doctors from getting the information they need to prescribe more cost-effective drugs that often work just as well for patients.

 *   No surprise: Senator Kyl has received nearly $2 million from the pharmaceutical industry<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=23021&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>.

 *   No surprise: Senator McConnell has received nearly $2 million from the pharmaceutical industry<http://app.mx3.americanprogressaction.org/e/er.aspx?s=785&lid=23022&elq=08E4A15E20CF41E9AF7D4D47D550F2A4>.

For more information, contact:
Adam Jentleson, 202.682.1611
[email-masked]

Center for American Progress Action Fund | 1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor | Washington, DC 20005

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