Tracy Press - Pombo Allied With Front Group
Pombo Allied With Front Group
Jerry McNerney
11th Congressional District Democratic candidate
The Tracy Press needs to question Congressman Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, for having a pharmaceutical industry-linked front group, Medicare Today, lead his office's Medicare Part D prescription drug seminar Monday. Having this group lead the seminar is like calling in the preverbial fox to guard the henhouse.
Medicare Today is a slick, well-financed, nationwide front group designed by Washington, D.C., lobbyists to protect the taxpayer-subsidized profits that Part D gave to the pharmaceutical industry.
This group's parent is the Healthcare Leadership Council, an organization that is financed by the pharmaceutical industry. Among Healthcare Leadership Council's primary goals are to fight provisions against the importation of Canadian prescription drugs and prevent having Medicare negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies as the Department of Veterans Affairs does.
Part D was written by and for the pharmaceutical industry. The lead congressional negotiator on the Medicare prescription drug bill, Republican Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, became the head of the drug industry's lobbying group PhRMA one month after the law was signed.
Medicare Part D provides no coverage for annual costs between $2,250 and $5,100, so millions of seniors will be denied coverage while they still pay monthly premiums. Part D allows insurers to take drugs off their approved coverage list or charge more for drugs during the year, but seniors cannot change plans until the following year.
As for the timing and location of my educational seminar in Stockton, also Monday: if the Tracy Press actually attended, it would have noticed that our educational seminar was clearly neither in the location of the Pombo event nor designed to confuse those in attendance.
As my late mother-in-law would have said, "Always show respect for your elders." It's time for Congress to do the same and write legislation that protects senior citizens, not the interests of the pharmaceutical lobby.
Jerry McNerney, a renewable energy engineer from Pleasanton, is one of three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in the 11th Congressional District. He faces Steve Filson, an airline pilot, and Steve Thomas, a union electrician, both of Danville, in the June 6 primary.
http://www.tracypress.com/voice/2006-04-15-McNERNEY.php