McCain speaking today on Health Care, will support Bush policy that raises drug costs

[WayneF]

From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041403056.html">washingtonpost:

Sen. John McCain will propose today that affluent seniors pay more for government-provided drug benefits as a way to control health-care spending, aides said in previewing a major speech on economics that the Arizona Republican will deliver in Pittsburgh.

The proposal is similar to a controversial one put forth last fall by President Bush, in which married retirees who make more than $160,000 a year would pay increasingly higher costs for the newly established Medicare prescription drug plans.

“When we added the prescription drug benefit . . . we included a lot of people that can well afford to pay for their own prescription drugs,” said Carly Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard and a top adviser to McCain’s presidential campaign, saying “that reform alone saves billions of dollars.”

The health care crisis requires more than targeted premium increases on a failing prescription drug plan. The problem is the drug and insurance companies stay well-connected to Washington so their unethical business practices receive little attention. Our system needs massive reform, not band-aids.

Carly Fiorina, the McCain economic advisor who was recently fired from Hewlett-Packard for screwing up a $19 billion merger, takes center stage in this position, and is starting to emerge as a possible McCain running mate. Stay tuned.