On June 28th in Rockville, Maryland, breast cancer patients and their families will protest a Food and Drug Administration hearing designed to deny patients access to the late-stage drug Avastin.
Organized by Terry Kalley, the husband of a breast cancer patient who is alive today because of the drug, patients will demand the FDA stop its effort to ration the drug. They deserve our support.
It appears that President Obama’s favorite company has been caught with its hands in the cookie jar. The question is – is anyone going to do something about it?
Of course, the company is Google and the relationship between the president and Google’s corporate executives is paying hefty returns on both ends. Google plied the president with nearly a million dollars in political contributions during his run for the presidency and now the company is rewarded with government contracts and policy initiatives like Net Neutrality that will pad the company’s bottom line.
The ObamaCare bill was riddled with land mines all designed to implement rationing of health care treatments and procedures in order to “reduce the cost” of health care expenditures to the government. Those provisions include the establishment of “comparative effectiveness research” and the creation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Comparative effectiveness research will provide the justification for denial of care that will be carried out by the IPAB. It is critical people understand the pending threats to their health care freedom so let’s take a look at these two provisions of law.
Congress is set to vote on a series of amendments aimed to limit the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose restrictions on carbon limits without congressional approval. The votes could come as early as next week.
Environmental groups have petitioned the FDA to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The impact of such an action would be enormous. Such a regulatory action – which has never been approved by Congress – would raise energy price and reduce energy supplies making President Obama’s admission that such regulation would cause electricity rates to “skyrocket,” reality.
White House’s Newest Power Grab – A Hollywood Patriot Act
Since his election as President, Barack Obama has grown government power exponentially. Failed stimulus bills, government take-over of major portions of the auto industry, bailouts of the financial industry and a government-takeover of our health care system have all increased the size, scope and power of the federal government.
Apparently, we have seen nothing yet. The White House is now proposing a Hollywood version of the Patriot Act – legislation that would allow copyright wiretaps against website owners who post copyrighted materials.
It’s not often that citizens are able to get the government to listen, but in the case of breast cancer patients, we can only hope. That’s because of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed to deny breast cancer patients access to the late-stage cancer drug Avastin. Safety of the drug is not the issue. The FDA is proposing to allow access to the drugs if someone has the ability to pay for it but those who rely on insurance and Medicare to cover the costs would be out of luck. The FDA action would allow Medicare and private insurers to wipe the books clean on breast cancer patients who rely on the drug. It’s becoming clear that cost was the major driver of the decision and if the decision is allowed to stand, will have huge impact on the future of health care in the United States.
The recent murder of four Southern California missionaries off the coast of Somalia is perfect metaphor to compare President Obama’s strategy in the War against Terrorism and the strategy of President Bush, or more correctly, the first president Bush.
When Navy Seals captured a young Somali pirate, they took him back to the United States to a courtroom. Tried and convicted, the Somali was given 30 years in a federal penitentiary. The response? More murder and mayhem.
