Slow Prescription Drug Abuse: Create a National Prescription Database

The problem with prescription drug abuse in this country is spiraling out of control.  Perhaps the one good thing that can come from the deaths of stars like Anna Nicole Smith, Michael Jackson, and Corey Haim is that this problem can get the attention it desperately needs.

I've witnessed the effects of prescription drug abuse first hand.  I can tell you there is NOTHING glamorous or acceptable about this issue.  Creating a national prescription narcotic database which every pharmacy is required by law to subscribe to and update in real-time would go very far in slowing this problem.  It would subsequently drive down health care costs by perhaps millions!


The Basic Concept:  When I fill a prescription for a controlled substance, it is automatically updated to a national registry which ALL pharmacies have access to via the web and are required to check for current or pending prescriptions in other pharmacies nationally.  Now, this will also require legislation to make it illegal for doctors to prescribe drugs using pseudonyms.  This is key especially in the case of celebrities.  To remedy privacy concerns, we should mandate privacy laws for pharmacies which not only carry stiffer penalties for breaches in security but also make the breach punishable by mandatory imprisonment for no less than 1 year.  Remember, this is a basic concept, but a very sound one.

The Bottom Line:  It's time to prescribe a real and tangible solution to prescription drug abuse in America.  The only ones profiting from this abuse are the drug companies.  We all know how that story ends.  

Show your support for sound ideas by logging on to http://www.healthreform.gov/

  

Verizon Wireless: What Recession?

I am pretty sure the folks over at Verizon Wireless are smoking some of the best "recession pot" around.  That can be THE only explanation for their gluttonous pricing plans for the new Motorola Droid.  I have to admit.  I was very interested in breaking with my current phone carrier just to have this phone.  That was the case until I started digging a little deeper.  What I found was just appalling!  Trust me...there is more to that god-awful Gothic sound they have on the Droid website VerizonWireless.com/Droid.  It sounds like music from the Saw VI movie and for good reason!



The Break Down:

$99.00/mo - 450 Minutes (Seriously?)
$119.99/mo - 900 Minutes
$129.99/mo - 1350 Minutes
$149.99/mo - Unlimited
$699.99/mo - Unlimited and you get to be the CEO for 5minutes.

This doesn't sound too bad considering how AT&T and Apple are sticking it to iPhone users.  But Wait!!!  There's more!!!

$35.00 - Activation Fee (A.K.A. The fee we just throw in to add insult to injury fee)

It get's better...

The phone price:
$599.99 - Month To Month
$269.99 - One Year Contract
$199.99 - Two Year Contract

If you call in the next 60 seconds...

$1.39/mo - Extended Warranty
$1.99/mo - Basic Crappy Insurance
$7.99/mo - Insurance That Will Actually Help Insurance

As a special bonus...

$2.99/mo - Visual Voice Mail
$39.00 - Just for the battery! What phone doesn't come with a battery?
$4.99 - For the battery door!!!???

The Bottom Line...

I would have to pay nearly $300 just to purchase and activate this Recession Nightmare.  After all that, I'd be paying almost $200 a month just for the privilege of owning and operating the Motorola Droid.  Sure, the Droid, by all accounts is an incredible phone, but do I really want to pay what will amount to around FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS for it over the term of a two year contract??????  There is no recession according to Verizon.  The Droid by Motorola is a gorgeous phone, but it will cost you as much as an upscale hooker and probably leave you with as much regret. 

Verizon: Fail
Motorola: Fail
Monthly Charges: Fail
Start Up Charges: Fail
Realistic Recession Option: Fail

Health Care Hoax: Smoke & Mirrors

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is a group of major health insurance providers that have banded together to resist health-care reform. They are now offering up a "report" which states that should health-care reform pass in Congress, it would increase deductibles for America's insured. I had to wonder why a group of major insurance companies would even have such a group. I did a little digging. The following is just a short list of some of the board members of this group. Everyone should know this...

George C. Halvorson
Chairman and CEO
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan

H. Edward Hanway
Chairman and CEO
CIGNA Corp.

Michael McCallister
President and CEO
Humana Inc.

Daniel P. Neary
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company


Ronald A. Williams
Chairman and CEO
Aetna Inc.

Any of those companies look familiar to you? There are also several CEOs from various Blue Cross - Blue Shield companies around the U.S.

Again, this is just a fraction of the CEOs that are a part of this "bipartisan health-care reform" group. Now why would all these major insurers be against health-care reform? Something is just "off" here...

Even more interesting...the "bipartisan" report claiming that reform would raise our rates by 111% percent in the next decade was created by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a tax, risk, and business strategy firm that all of these insurance companies are members of. This is a firm which helps the insurance companies be more profitable world-wide. Oh, and this tax firm, it's based in the UK...not the U.S. Do you really think they have OUR best interest in mind?

This same group has a tax-free research group (AHIP Foundation) set up to do research about the insurance industry. That means you and I are paying for them to research how to increase their business. Have you ever heard of such MESS???

This health-care reform bill represents massive accountability and regulation for the Insurance Industry and they are fighting it tooth and nail. They have their lobbyists and their pseudo reporting firms throwing lies at the American people and legislature in hopes of continuing to profit off the backs of every-day Americans like you and me. Don't fall for this report that premiums will increase for every American. The premiums have been increasing dramatically for years, well before talk of health-care reform. What's not being said is that insurers would no longer have a free ride at our expense and they do NOT like that idea at all. The sad part is all of this information that I've laid out here today is available to everyone. All you have to do is read. I simply went to each website and started connecting the dots. Don't just take my word for it...read for yourself.

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/12/health.care/index.html
http://www.ahip.org/default.aspx
http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/index.jhtml


Stay Free!

Michael Steele: Another GOP Gimmick

I wish the Republican Party would take this election beating and do something substantial. I reserved making any judgments on Mr. Michael Steele until I had more information and could observe his actions. I was also trying to give the GOP the benefit of the doubt.

As it turns out, it's precisely what I first feared it might be...a GIMMICK.

After all these years the GOP has never had a Black Chairman. Now that we have a Black President they miraculously find a Black man to head the party? That "smells" just like adding Sarah Palin to the GOP ticket as a way to steal female voters left angry about Clinton.

Instead of learning from this election bludgeoning, the GOP's answer to their trials is to offer up yet another gimmick. As if having a Black man chair anything for them is going to make the world forget their failures to connect with the majority. As if this not-so-slight of hand is going to make the GOP look fresh and in touch again. It doesn't. In my opinion it's like dressing up in "black-face" and expecting people to really believe you are black!

The prescription for GOP future is to take about a year to first get their footing again. This would include getting MAJOR "web help" to catch up to the younger generation. Their web effort during the election was pathetic at best. They should also stop scripting their organization so much. Is there nobody in the GOP who is just naturally well spoken and articulate? I get the feeling that the GOP doesn't really want to move forward but would rather repackage old ideas and make them seem new. This doesn't really work with cell phones and it doesn't work with politics. In fact, it ends up more like reusing toilet paper. It's nasty and doesn't work!

My message for the GOP: Don't kid yourself or America. There is a reason you've lost so much ground and it's going to take more than token responses and gimmicks to help you move forward. Spend more time coming up with a plan that makes sense and less time searching for your next gimmick.

Stay Free!