Bought and paid for by the drug companies

Great job on that new Medicare drug plan, W!

You did just like we would expect, screwed over the old and the most sick while stuffing more money into the pockets of the drug companies.

Drug firms windfall story here (via the San Jose Mercury News)

Here's a couple of nice tidbits:

The new Medicare drug benefit will give drug companies up to $2 billion in extra profits this year because they're no longer required to pay rebates on drugs bought by the government for the elderly poor.

"The net effect over 10 years is probably closer to $40 billion in extra profit,'' said Stephen Schondelmeyer, a pharmaceutical economics professor at the University of Minnesota.

Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside..