By Rick Staggenborg, M.D.
Corvallis Gazette-Times, Letters, October 5, 2021
Want to know why government doesn’t work for us? Look no further than Kurt Schrader’s recent vote on a provision in the reconciliation bill that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
This is a system that has worked well for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has saved tens of billions as a result. As a former VA provider, I can attest that I never once had difficulty getting a medication I felt my patient needed. I was happy to have to make an occasional request for mediations outside of the formulary because I knew the money the system saved was used to provide care to my patients.
If you want to know why Schrader voted against a money-saving measure approved by 91% of his constituents, you might take a look at his campaign donations. He has taken over $600,000 from the Pharm, including over $114,000 in the last election cycle. Could this be connected, or perhaps the fact that he inherited a fortune from his grandfather, a high-level Pfizer executive?
Schrader is proud of his bipartisan credentials, but this is an example of a bipartisan effort to protect an industry that is fleecing the public and helping threaten the solvency of Medicare. It’s proof positive that voters have to look beyond party labels and vote for candidates who put their interests over those of health care profiteers.
Once we learn to look at issues objectively, it becomes clear that universal health care is not a partisan issue.