Drug manufacturers will offer some US$80 billion in prescription discounts for Medicare recipients under a deal unveiled on Saturday, which could boost US President Barack Obama as he pushes to overhaul the US$2.5 trillion US healthcare system.
“The agreement reached today to lower prescription drug costs for seniors will be an important part of the legislation I expect to sign into law in October,” Obama said in formally announcing the pact.
The companies have agreed to provide for the next decade a 50 percent discount for those elderly and disabled Americans in the Medicare health insurance program who face a gap in coverage after their drug costs reach a certain level, known as the “doughnut hole.”
“The existence of this gap in coverage has been a continuing injustice that has placed a great burden on many seniors,” Obama said in a statement.
Medicare coverage does not apply to payments between US$2,700 and US$6,154.
The deal was negotiated between the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America industry association and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus who is leading one of many congressional panels drafting healthcare legislation.
“This commitment to support legislation that will help close the coverage gap reflects our ongoing work with Congress and the Administration to make comprehensive health care reform a reality this year,” the industry group said in a statement.
UNINSURED AMERICANS
Costs for healthcare have soared faster than the inflation rate and the Democratic president has pledged to work to curb those costs as well as find a way to provide coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans.
Americans strongly support fundamental changes to the healthcare system and a move to create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published on Saturday.
The White House has said some US$950 billion in cuts have been found to cover its reform efforts but there are reports that the costs could reach as much as US$1.6 trillion and still not cover everyone, setting off a fierce debate on how to close the gap.
That has given Republicans an opening to attack, particularly since Americans are growing worried about the eye-popping record budget deficits facing the country — more than US$1.8 trillion this fiscal year alone.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives proposed a draft of their healthcare bill on Friday that calls for all citizens to be able to get insurance regardless of medical history and that coverage should be mandatory for individuals and businesses.
They would create a new government plan to help cover the uninsured — a move backed by Obama but resisted by Republicans and some centrist Democrats who fear it will overwhelm private insurers and require vast amounts of public funding.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
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