The High Cost Of Drugs-- Which Members Of Congress Benefit?

There's a battle raging inside the Democratic Party in regard to prescription drug prices, which Big Pharma insists be kept high and which progressives very much want to keep affordable (so the U.S. not turn into another Russia, where the elderly have been forced to turn to home remedies in lieu of medicines they can no longer afford). So far this cycle, the Pharmaceitical Sector has put $15,816,930 into federal elections, $6,206,457 to Democrats (and $9,603,470 to Republicans). They have a lot of clout with careerist Democrats and since 1990 they have contributed immense sums to Democratic Party hot-shots, who have significant roles in determining the outcome of that battle:

• Barack Obama- $4,530,983
• Hillary Clinton- $1,643,393
• Anna Eshoo- $1,403,061
• John Kerry- $1,076,888
• Frank Pallone- $1,025,892
• Chuck Schumer- $800,942
• Robert Menendez- $785,395
• Patty Murray- $774,232
• Jim Clyburn- $672,843
• Harry Reid- $660,158
• Ron Kind- $658,869
• Ron Wyden- $605,553

As our friends at SocialSecurityWorks have pointed out, "year after year, the cost of prescription drugs increases by double digits-- 10% last year and 12% in 2014. But seniors and Americans with disabilities aren’t getting double digit cost of living increases to keep up." That sounds like a classic definition of inflation, at least for one segment of the population. The platform committee fight is whether or not to continue permitting price gauging so that the bribes to career politicians keep flowing.

That means that these massive drug price hikes are a de-facto cut to Social Security checks-- and Big Pharma billionaires are pocketing the profits. This is theft of our earned benefits!

But the American people won’t stand for these abuses any longer. Right now, we have an opportunity to fight the pharmaceutical industry head-on.

...The Party platform can set the agenda for the next president and the next Congress. And this is a fight we can win.

On average, 37% of each Social Security check goes toward out-of-pocket health-care costs, and a huge part of these costs are drug prices. This has devastating consequences for Americans around the country. 20% of the population-- 35 million people-- didn’t fill a prescription because they could not afford to.

There is no reason for this to be happening in the United States, the wealthiest country in the history of the world! No one should have to choose between putting food on the table and taking the medications they need to stay healthy.

We need to demand that the powers behind the Democratic Party Platform Committee include detailed plans to rein in drug prices and stop Big Pharma from stealing the American people’s earned Social Security benefits.

In 2013, the United States spent nearly 40% more per person on prescription drugs than Canada, the next most expensive industrialized nation.

What good is it to keep electing Democrats to Congress-- and the White House-- if they don't stand up for us on the most basic of issues? Just stop. Stop thinking of yourself as a Democrat; think of yourself as a progressive instead. There is in Florida, for example-- where this is an especially acute problem because of the state's demographics-- a big difference between Democrats who stand up for seniors and working families like Alan Grayson, Alina Valdes, Andrew Sackrin and Tim Canova (progressives) and corrupt corporate shills like Patrick Murphy, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Alcee Hastings and Lois Frankel (hack Democrats). You'll find the good ones on this list-- and none of the villains: