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.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
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A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than