Wampum

Some quick hits...

Today's my 40th birthday, and I'm not spending my day tied to the laptop, but there have been some newsworthy stories within the past days which I haven't yet seen reported elsewhere in the blogosphere.

First is an article from the British Medical Journal, on the Bush Administrations' newly unveiled initiative to screen all Americans for mental illness. Sounds great, except a whistleblower recently revealed that the plan arose from the bowels of BigPharma, including our old friend Eli Lilly, with the idea that all these newly diagnosed patients would be prime candidates for their new generation of expensive, patent-protected drugs. One would be tempted to pull out one's tinfoi beanie, except it seems Bush and the Texas drug companies develped a limilar "initiative" back in Austin while Dubya was governor.

Yesterday's Supreme Court decision on HMOs and patient's rights has immediate impact here in Maine, as our patient's rights law is nearly identical to the Texas law invalidated yesterday. Hopefully, it will provide the impetus to push Dirigo into single-payer mode, bypassing Anthem-BC/BS.

This story also provides more fuel for the Bush-as-flip-flopper mantra:

The Texas cases were filed under a patients' rights law passed when President George W. Bush was governor. When Bush was running for president four years ago, he took credit for the law, but his administration sided with insurance carriers when the two cases reached the high court.

[I'll add a couple more later if time allows.]

Posted by MB Williams at June 22, 2004 08:18 AM | TrackBack