Category Archives: Bernie Sanders

5/21 News Roundup & Open Thread

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Sanders says US physician shortage is a ‘solvable problem

Senators on both sides of the aisle agreed at a hearing Thursday that Congress should work to address the nation’s physician shortages, especially in primary health care, including through changes to training programs.

At a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcommittee hearing, Chair Bernie Sanders said the federal government could help boost the number of practicing physicians in the United States. The government spends about $16 billion every year to fund thousands of medical residency programs.

Sanders, a Vermont independent, suggested Congress expand these programs as well as programs to get doctors into medically underserved areas. He said he plans to soon introduce legislation to authorize 14,000 new Medicare-supported residency programs over seven years. It would also establish new criteria about how the residency slots would be allocated, so half of these doctors would go into primary care.

“We don’t necessarily need more dermatologists on Park Avenue in New York City,” Sanders told the panel.

The Association of American Medical Colleges recently predicted a shortage of up to 139,000 physicians by 2033, including a shortage of 55,200 primary care physicians alone. The pandemic exacerbated these issues in some specialties, including mental health and nursing home care.

Primary care doctors are paid less than specialists on average throughout their careers, and medical residencies in rural and underserved areas struggle to attract as many trainees as those in big cities. This creates doctor shortages in places that need care most.

Witnesses who work in the medical field said Thursday that the nation’s care system structure leads to lower pay for primary care doctors because primary care physicians don’t profit off expensive procedures, such as surgeries.

The system “is flawed and incentivizes the wrong thing,” University of New England President James Herbert told the subcommittee.

David Skorton, president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, told Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., that there’s an increased interest in going to medical school across the country, but there are some disincentives and the potential for burnout.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine., said low Medicaid reimbursement rates in nursing homes translate into low wages and discourage many qualified health care workers from staying in the field. Collins and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., recently introduced legislation to create 1,000 Medicare-supported medical residency positions focused on addiction at teaching hospitals.

Collins, Sanders and other senators suggested Congress could also give incentives such as medical education debt forgiveness to get medical residents into rural areas across the country.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the pandemic has led to a severe shortage of mental health professionals. Before COVID-19, about 77 percent of counties had a mental health workforce shortage, and he said it’s gotten even worse since.

Herbert told the subcommittee that it is important to train all health care providers, including dentists and OB-GYNs, to recognize behavioral health issues, including addiction.

Sanders said he felt encouraged his panel reached a general understanding of these issues and got a handle on how to solve them. He said the subcommittee would continue to examine and try to address health care workforce shortages.

“This is a solvable problem. This is the wealthiest country on Earth. Yes, we can have enough doctors,” Sanders said. “I think we can do this.”

(image credit: Roll Call)

More news, tweets, perspectives in the comments. TGIF!

5/20 Sanders Calls for Immediate Cease Fire in Gaza: News Roundup & OT

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Bernie Sanders gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor yesterday, demanding what most of the US (who care about foreign relations) want: a cease fire in Gaza and a recognition of Palestinian people as humans.

In the comments, more news, tweets, and videos, including Bernie’s guest appearance on Seth Meyers’ show.

5/11 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Bonjour! Let’s star the thread with an op-ed by Pramila Jayapal and Bernie Sanders Concerning Medicare
We must fix the gaping holes in Medicare

More than 55 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare — one of the most popular and successful government programs in our nation’s history — into law. Before the enactment of Medicare, about half of our senior citizens were uninsured and roughly 35 percent lived in poverty. Today, everyone in America aged 65 or older is guaranteed health-care benefits through Medicare regardless of income or medical condition, while the official poverty rate for seniors is now less than 9 percent.

That is the good news. The bad news is that, since its inception in 1965, Medicare has not covered such basic health-care needs as hearing, dental care and vision. The result: Millions of senior citizens have teeth rotting in their mouths, are unable to hear what their children and grandchildren say or can’t read a newspaper because of failing eyesight. It is a cruel irony that older Americans do not have coverage for these benefits at the time when they need it the most.

The lack of benefits for hearing, dental and vision has severe consequences for worsening a whole host of other medical conditions. Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk. Moderate loss tripled risk, and people with a severe hearing impairment were five times more likely to develop dementia. Aging affects teeth as well, as gum tissue naturally recedes exposing roots to decay and infection. Poor oral health and untreated gum disease leads to increased serious risk of heart attacks, strokes, rheumatoid arthritis and worsened diabetes. Aging also takes a toll on vision, leading to injury, cognitive impairment and depression.

And yet, in the richest country in the world, the outrageous reality is that 75 percent of senior citizens who suffer from hearing loss do not have a hearing aid because of the prohibitive cost. Sixty-five percent of senior citizens have no dental insurance and no idea how they will be able to afford to go to a dentist. More than a quarter of senior citizens in this country are missing all of their natural teeth, with many unable to properly digest the food that they eat. Over 70 percent of Americans 65 and older have untreated gum disease. We simply cannot tolerate this any longer.

The original vision of Medicare was to provide quality health-care coverage to our nation’s seniors. Today, it’s past time to fix the gaping holes that are the lack of coverage for dental, vision and hearing, which are so critical, especially as we age. We must do what the overwhelming majority of Americans want us to do: expand Medicare to cover hearing aids, dental care and eyeglasses.

But expanding benefits is not the only thing we need to do. Too many older workers are uninsured or underinsured, which is why we must lower the eligibility age for Medicare to at least 60. Doing so would give 23 million older workers the security of knowing they can finally address illness and injury and not worry about how they will pay for a doctor. This is not only the right thing to do from a public policy perspective; it is also what the overwhelming majority of Americans support. That’s why we are joined by over 100 colleagues in the House and the Senate — including those in some of the most vulnerable districts in the country — who last month asked President Biden to include these critical proposals in his American Families Plan.

Expanding Medicare and lowering the eligibility age will cost money. So, how are we going to pay for it? There is an easy, popular and necessary answer: by taking on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and demanding that it stops ripping off U.S. taxpayers by charging us the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Medicare and the rest of the federal government should do what Veterans Affairs already does, and what every major country on Earth does: negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the outrageously high price of prescription drugs. It is a travesty that in the United States, one vial of insulin has gone from costing $21 in 1999 to $332 in 2019, reflecting a price increase of more than 1,000 percent.

By setting drug prices at the median price of other major countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and France, the Congressional Budget Office estimates we’ll save taxpayers at least $500 billion over a 10-year period. Additional cost-saving measures can raise the total saved to at least $650 billion. With those savings, we can finally make drug prices affordable for all Americans, give Americans over 60 the security of having Medicare, and expand the benefits that Medicare provides to include dental, vision and hearing. Let’s do what is wildly popular with the American people and get this done.

More perspectives, news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments.

Chair of the Budget Committee… (gets more done) and OT April 28, 2021

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Study Commissioned by Sanders Shows US Pays 2 to 4 Times More for Prescription Drugs Than Other Nations

A new government study commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders shows that the U.S. pays two to four times more for prescription drugs than other rich countries, a finding that came as President Joe Biden rolled out a social safety-net plan on Wednesday that excludes progressive proposals to tackle sky-high medicine costs.

According to an analysis (pdf) by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), retail prices that U.S. consumers and insurers paid for 20 brand-name prescription drugs in 2020 were 2.82 times higher than in Canada, 4.25 times higher than in Australia, and 4.36 times higher than in France.

“We can no longer tolerate the American people paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.”
—Sen. Bernie Sanders

The drugs GAO examined were a sampling of 41 brand-name medicines with the highest expenditures and use in the Medicare Part D program, which under current federal law is prohibited from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies.

One example GAO cites is Xarelto, a blood clot medication that costs more than $558 for 30 tablets in the U.S. but just over $85 in Canada.

“This important GAO study confirms what we all already know: the pharmaceutical industry is ripping off the American people,” Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement. “The time is long overdue for the United States to do what every major country on earth does: negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies to lower the outrageous price of prescription drugs. ”

The Vermont senator went on to urge Biden to “put this proposal in the American Families Plan and use the savings to expand and improve Medicare for older Americans.”

“We can no longer tolerate the American people paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” said Sanders.

Despite pressure from Sanders and other progressive lawmakers, Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan leaves out proposals to lower the Medicare eligibility age and allow the federal government to directly negotiate prescription drug prices, ideas that are both overwhelmingly popular with the U.S. public.

“The proposal is incomplete without long-overdue measures to make prescription drugs more affordable for every person, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have in their bank account.”
—Margarida Jorge, Lower Drug Prices Now

Sanders told reporters Tuesday that drug-pricing reforms and Medicare expansion will end up in the final legislation “if I have anything to say about it.” Because it is unlikely to receive any Republican support, the package will probably have to go through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process—over which Sanders has significant influence as chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

A White House fact sheet outlining the details of Biden’s new proposal states that the president is committed to lowering prescription drug costs “for everyone by letting Medicare negotiate prices” and giving people the option “to enroll in Medicare at age 60″—just not as part of the American Families Plan.

Margarida Jorge, campaign director for Lower Drug Prices Now, said in a statement Wednesday morning that “while the American Families Plan includes investments that directly respond to the urgent needs of millions of families, the proposal is incomplete without long-overdue measures to make prescription drugs more affordable for every person, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have in their bank account.”

“Lowering drug prices for seniors, people with disabilities, and patients struggling to afford everything from insulin to cancer medications is a top healthcare priority for millions of Americans who can’t wait anymore for accessible life-saving medicines,” said Jorge. “Biden has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to lowering drug prices as part of making healthcare affordable for everyone. The time to act on that promise is now.”
____________________________

Hoping we can put enough pressure on. But at least it’s getting out there, more and more.

4/13 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on by

Biden Wants to Spend More Than Trump to Maintain a Bloated Defense Budget

Robert Reich knows a thing or two about federal budgets, and the economist who has served in three presidential administrations says there is something wrong with Joe Biden’s plan to increase Pentagon spending above the levels proposed by former President Trump.

“The Pentagon already spends: $740,000,000,000 every year, $2,000,000,000 every day, $1,000,000 every minute,” says the former secretary of labor. “The last thing we need is a bigger military budget.”

Unfortunately, that’s what the president is seeking. This has led Reich to announce that he is “frankly disappointed that Biden’s proposing $715 billion for the Pentagon—an increase over Trump’s $704 billion defense budget—instead of moving back toward Obama-Biden era levels of defense spending, or less.”

How Antidiscrimination Law Fails Black Mothers
“Or less” is the right direction, especially at a moment when Republican deficit hawks are circling in preparation for attacks on domestic spending that is essential for working families who have been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s $1.5 trillion budget plan has much to recommend it. The president is seeking significant increases in funding for education and proposing to invest in criminal justice and police reform, combating gun violence, and other worthy efforts. “However, despite the positive investments in these programs,” says Representative Barbara Lee, “I was incredibly disappointed at the significant increase in Pentagon spending to even higher levels than the Trump administration. With so many people across the country struggling to make ends meet, the last thing we need to do is increase investment in wasteful Pentagon spending.” Noting that “this budget adds twelve billion new dollars for weapons of war,” the longtime critic of endless wars asks us to “just think how that same amount could be used to invest in jobs, health care and fighting inequality—especially as we fight back a once in a century public health and economic crisis.”

Lee was once a lonely voice on behalf of cutting Pentagon spending. But the California Democrat now has allies in powerful places. “I have serious concerns,” says Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “about the proposed $753 billion budget request for the bloated Pentagon—a $12.3 billion increase compared to the last year of the Trump Administration. At a time when the U.S. already spends more on the military than the next 12 nations combined, it is time for us to take a serious look at the massive cost over-runs, the waste and fraud that currently exists at the Pentagon.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is blunter: “We’re in the midst of a crisis that has left millions of families unable to afford food, rent, and bills. But at the same time, we’re dumping billions of dollars into a bloated Pentagon budget. Don’t increase defense spending. Cut it—and invest that money into our communities.”

That’s not a radical response. When Data for Progress surveyed voters nationwide last year about budget priorities, 56 percent supported cutting the Pentagon budget by 10 percent to pay for fighting the coronavirus pandemic and funding education, health care, and housing. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats expressed enthusiasm for the proposed cut, which was striking. Even more striking was the 51 percent support it got from Republicans.

When the idea was raised in Congress in July of 2020, 93 members of the House of Representatives voted for a 10 percent cut, as did 23 senators. That wasn’t a win, obviously, but it was a groundbreaking show of support for reduced spending on the military-industrial complex.

Can congressional progressives build on that base of support to alter priorities in the Biden budget? It won’t be easy. Centrist Democrats will be cautious about cuts, and Republicans can be expected to demagogue the issue. But progressive caucus members have had success in pushing the new administration to abandon some of the worst Pentagon initiatives of the Trump years. For instance, a new letter signed by 70 House members commends Biden for “[his] first steps toward ending U.S. support for the war in Yemen, including announcing an end to U.S. military participation in offensive Saudi actions; a review of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia for use in its six-year air war in Yemen; and a revocation of President Trump’s terrorism designation against the Houthis, with the express purpose of averting a hunger crisis.” (The letter urges the president to go further and “use all available U.S. leverage with the Saudi regime to demand an immediate and unconditional end to its blockade, which threatens 16 million malnourished Yemenis living on the brink of famine.”)

One of the key movers in the fight to end US support for the war in Yemen, Representative Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), thinks the time is right to push the administration and Congress for a broader rethink of spending priorities.

“A proposed increase of $13 billion in defense spending is far too much given [the Pentagon budget’s] already rapid growth at a time of relative peace,” says the Wisconsin Democrat who with Lee cochairs the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus. “We cannot best build back better if the Pentagon’s budget is larger than it was under Donald Trump.”

Pocan has ideas for where to make cuts. For instance, he says “we must stop funding for former President Trump’s excessive $1.5 trillion nuclear modernization plan and complete a new nuclear posture review as each of the last three presidents have done. The United States has far more nuclear weapons than are needed for our security, so let’s stop funding the waste.” In addition to arguing for “no new spending on nuclear weapons,” Pocan points to the need to audit Pentagon waste and accountability measures to eliminate slush funds.

That’s a message that will resonate with the American people, says Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who maintains that there is a growing awareness that “it is simply inexcusable to continue to shower weapons manufacturers with hundreds of billions of dollars in Pentagon waste.”

Advocacy groups share the view that this is precisely the right time for members of Congress to make the case for tightening the bloated Pentagon budget. “Following a year of deadly proof that throwing money at the Pentagon does not keep us safe from modern day threats, it is unconscionable to not only extend Trump’s spending spree, but to add to it,” says Win Without War’s Erica Fein. “Deadly pandemics, climate crisis, desperate inequality—the greatest threats to global security do not have military solutions. Yet while we’re repeatedly asked how we will afford to address these truly existential threats, the same question is never asked of adding to the Pentagon’s already-overstuffed coffers. Let’s be clear: continuing to funnel near-limitless resources into the pockets of arms manufacturers while underfunding public goods only undermines the safety of people in the United States and around the world.”

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