I am a registered Republican, and usually vote
Republican, but the Republican Congress has been
a big disappointment. Their Medicare "reform" is
incompetent legislation. It overlooks a major health
cost contributor that any reform legislation can and
should address: tobacco.
Tobacco (cigarettes) cause about $20 billion a year
in health care costs. (This does not include additional
costs due to premature death, and lost productivity due
to illness. The total comes to more than $70 billion.)
These are the costs of treating lung cancer,
emphysema, and heart disease for which cigarettes are
responsible. Wouldn't it be nice to have a few billion of
that every year for medical research on Parkinsons,
cancer, and other diseases?
I don't know how much of this comes out of Medicare,
but cigarette smoking often catches up with people in their
50s and 60s.
The Republican legislation is incompetent and irresponsible
because it does not force the cigarette companies to pay for the
damage they have caused, and are continuing to cause-
knowingly, willingly, and deliberately. As I see it, the latter
makes the tobacco industry no better (morally) than heroin
pushers, cocaine dealers, crack house proprietors, and
similar vermin who poison people for profit. I am glad to see that
some states, like Florida, are suing the tobacco companies for
state Medicaid costs.
Before Congress takes anyone's home or car, they should
make the Federal and State governments take everything
the tobacco companies have, and use it to pay for the damage
they caused.
-Bill
(Copy: PA Senators, and Representative)
