If you look at newspapers around the state, you’d see large ads about how Premera Blue Cross' proposed conversion to a for-profit company and establishment of two new charitable foundations with $500 million in assets will really make our state a healthier place.

I beg to disagree.

We need this conversion like we need another earthquake.

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by Ivan J. Miller

The Medicare pharmacy benefit plan passed by the 2003 Congress is a mess. Insurance companies will siphon off billions of dollars needed for medical care, the government will incur excessive and unnecessary debt, and Medicare recipients will not get the assistance they need. Moreover, this proposal does not include an effective way to deal with the rising costs of medications. Fortunately, there is a better answer, the Competitive Pricing Medicare Pharmacy Proposal. It is a two-fer. One plan solves two problems--the need for a Medicare pharmacy benefit and the need to restrain the rising cost of medications.