Congress has great health benefits. Why can't others?

Let's pretend, for a moment, that you're a senior citizen. You worked hard your entire life with the belief that once you retired, the government would work its hardest to take care of you with social security and Medicare. And why wouldn't they? After all, you've probably worked for 50 years or more. You deserve to be respected, and shown as an example of what comes to those who give years of dedication and hard work.

Then imagine the sad reality: you retire, and are so poor that something as minor as a small tax raise from a school referendum could be too much for your pocketbook to handle. It could force you to move in with a relative and lose your independence, or worse yet, put you out on the street.

Luckily, hope arrives in the form of prescription drugs from Canada. A group of Democrats join together to support a plan that would allow prescriptions to be imported from Canada, thereby saving you as much as 50%. This measure would allow you to order prescriptions from reputable and safe suppliers, and would mean an end to long bus rides to Canada, or to taking your chances by ordering from some unknown middleman company over the Internet.

This dream of financial stability, and freedom from unethical American pharmaceutical companies that ban together to jack up prices, seems so close. But then Republicans in Congress spearhead a vote to remove the prescription drug price relief measure from the Medicare bill. Not only that, but they also remove Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton's provision requiring that senators and house members receive no drug benefit better than what is provided by Medicare.

Well, this situation is not hypothetical. It's real. Members of Congress voted down those two measures from the Medicare bill, forcing senior citizens and other people who require constant prescriptions to wait even longer for financial relief. Don't worry, though. At least Senate and House members won't have problems affording prescriptions.

Dayton's tit-for-tat measure obviously wasn't as important as the prescription drug price relief one, but I applaud him for the idea. It's a shame it was removed from the bill. God forbid we give legislators a taste of their own medicine, and require them to see what it's like to have the terrible benefits the majority of seniors live with. It's bad enough their pension plan is God-like, but their other ridiculously inflated benefits seem to be untouchable as well.

Alas, there is still hope. Democrats and other supporters of prescription drug price relief vowed to keep fighting, and I believe they'll eventually win. It's been a long time since I've seen people so dedicated to a cause. Pete Wycoff, executive director of the Minnesota Senior Federation, called House and congressional leaders "lackeys for the international pharmaceutical companies", and said he will not let the issue go away. House Rep. Gil Gutknecht from Minnesota, who authored the prescription drug price relief measure, said Washington officials will be "forced to lead, follow, or simply get out of the way."

Minnesota started this whole plan to help people on Medicare, so naturally, it's Minnesotans who are fighting for it with the most vigor. The plan is our baby, and we intend to get it passed. Unfortunately, there is one politician representing Minnesota who is perfectly happy to not have cheaper prescription drug options, and who plans to readily support the inadequate Medicare bill this week. It shouldn't be any surprise to Minnesotans that this politician is Senator Norm Coleman.

Coleman doesn't care about his constituents. He doesn't care about fighting for the people. His constituents have shown time and time again that they need a solution to high prescription drug prices, and now he's ignoring them, because he's a rookie senator, and all he cares about right now is being accepted by his congressional peers. What he doesn't realize is that you don't have to kiss every senator's ass to ensure you get support in the future. All you have to do is show you care about your constituents, and fight valiantly for what they want.

You'd think Coleman would have learned that from watching the late Paul Wellstone, his predecessor. But since none of his Republican friends in the Senate did either, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I stole this band from CJ, because they're the coolest band I've heard in a while. They have a strange sound that is oddly appealing, in a geeky sort of way. Check it out, people. "Supernerd" by Spin Spin Coupling

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Reader Comments

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Bec      Nov 19, 2003 • 9:01pm   Sweet article. TractorInc      Nov 19, 2003 • 5:33pm   Not bullshit at all. There is definitely a difference in the safety of drugs imported into the states and those manufactured in the states. Now, I am not saying that every single drug coming in from Canada is a fake, or even that the majority of them are, but one needs to take into account the safety of the people receiving this medicine. Simply put, the FDA is the single most strenuous governing body when it comes to fraudulent prescriptions. In the whole of 2002, there were only five cases where drugs were found to be fraudulent, and this is out of 3 billion prescriptions. I would think that is pretty high standards. For an excellent overview on this topic, check out the morning edition of NPR from last Tuesday. Paul Ryan      Nov 19, 2003 • 5:08pm   TractorInc, that\'s bullshit. Show me a case of someone in Canada dying or getting sick from bad prescription drugs, and I might believe that line of crap. The fact is, their drugs are just as safe as our drugs; the pharmaceutical industry just doesn\'t want to lose money. They\'re pulling a fast one on everyone, like they always have. John      Nov 19, 2003 • 5:03pm   Would you get a bigger apartment so that when your mother and I turn 65 we will have a place to live. TractorInc      Nov 19, 2003 • 4:11pm   It is important to note that the bill was not shut down solely due to the fact that Canadian drugs are cheaper. Drugs from Canada do not go through as rigorous of a testing process as those in the states. It has been said many times that, if Canadian government can provide stricter guidelines to AND enforcement of drug manufacturers, there would not be a problem with opening up the doors of drug trade with our neighbors to the north. We are living in a capitalistic society. In theory, free trade is a good thing. jen      Nov 19, 2003 • 2:20pm   i think coleman learned plenty from wellstone. like, that if he wants things, his bigshot republican friends will take out the competition for him with a small aeroplane failure. Shaun      Nov 19, 2003 • 2:05pm   Im just here to say \'\'i was the first to write a comment for this column.\'\'Done. Crap column.Done

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