Privatization of anything is just another way to transfer tax dollars to private corporations who are at best self serving and at worst totally corrupt. Does anyone really want Enron,Adelphia or Worldcom to manage their Social Security or health care accounts. Just imagine Bill Frist's family health care business managing our privatized health care accounts. Frist is the doctor and Republican senator who diagnosed and critiqued Terri Schiavo's condition and her on site medical team by looking at a film clip of her behavior. I damn well don't want him diagnosing me that way.
The new prescription drug plan is just another way to transfer taxpayer dollars(without cost bids)to the prescription drug industry. After that plan went into effect just a month ago,one of my prescriptions went up from 24.00 dollars to 34.00 dollars on the very next refill. I fully expect all of my prescriptions to go up accordingly. What I am saying is that the Bush/Republican Administration is giving the prescription drug industry carte blanche(remember no bids) to increase prices as they choose. That IS the reason why health care costs are so high in America. Don't blame employees pension benefits for our struggling american corporations, blame it on the other american corporations like the prescription drug industry. GM blames their inability to survive and profit on the employees health care costs but GM does nothing about the high cost of prescriptions. GM, Ford and Chrysler should be ATTACKING the prescription drug industry. The auto makers should see to it that their employees pay one-half of what they now pay for prescription drugs. If they contracted with the drug companies in India the employees would get their medications for about 90% less than they are paying now. Those employees needing surgery could have a 25,000 dollar surgery done in India for 2,500 dollars and get equal survival and cure rates as they get in america.
It will be interesting to see what the millions upon millions of our elderly do when they find out how much further their retirement dollars will go in India, Russia,Costa Rica,Mexico and, yes, even China. Millions of elderly will find themselves forced to move to these other countries in order to survive the high costs of food, prescriptions and surgery etc. etc. etc.
Imagine the democratizing effect tens of millions of elderly will have on those aforementioned countries. The economic power of our elderlywill force those countries to become far more democratic than they are. And, no war would be involved in this democratizing process.

May God please save America from all the idiocy perpetrated on the American people by Bush and the Republicans. And I'm not even a Democrat.

thank you very much for your help. You guys 16804 rock, thanks again.