McCain's Viagra Moment

Amidst the fiery debate over the new strategy to take place in Afghanistan, Sen. John McCain has proposed a new amendment attached to the defense spending bill. The Requirements that Senator McCain are seeking out is for Gen. McChrystal, and Head of Central Command Gen. Petraeus to testify in front of Congress. This didn't take place without any backlash, Carl Levin; who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee with McCain. Levin feels that there isn't any need at this time for Gen. McChrystal to provide testimony, because President Obama hasn't established a direct plan for Afghanistan at the moment. Despite the damning statements Gen. McChrystal made regarding to President Obama, that he had only spoke to the president once since becoming the lead Afghanistan General. Mr. Obama is set to reestablish a strategy with top officials including Gen. McChrystal. My questions to you all consists of this. Do you think that the war in Afghanistan is capable of winning? If so, will it just be a police state with roughly 50,000 troops present at all times? (politicalpluralism.com)

As a prostate cancer survivor, (seed implants), I was also perscribed Viagra for treatment in 2003. At that time the perscription plan provided a huge discount for erectile dysfunction agents. In 2007 the plan was changed as a cost cutting measure by AT&T that removed the huge discount to management employees for erectile dysfunction agents and fertility agents. Non-management (bargined for) employees continue to receive the huge discounts but management must pay up to 4 times the cost for the same perscription. Discrimination? Bargined? The CEO of AT&T, in early December, addressed his Fortune 500 counterparts to propose the new presidential administration follow the lead of AT&T in their health care cost cutting. Studies concluded before those comments prove that the shift of costs to the employee by increasing deductibles and other costs just delay the more expensive treatment of illness to later years. Employees, tryinjg to save money, delay treatment of minor problems until they become major issues in later years and the overall cost of treatment escalates costing both employee and company more. Where is the savings????

I have just now read of this story about McCain and Viagra, and it came as a shock and surprise to me.

My insurance company has no limit on coverage of contraceptives, but only allows 8 Viagra tablets of 100mg per month. Imagine an insurance company telling you (and your doctor) that you could only have sex twice a week (some kind of national average?). Actually, my doctor prescribed Viagra for me in low doses before and after radical surgery for prostate cancer, with the thought that it would help with recovery of the nerves down there that were injured in the surgery.

So, Viagra is not only a "recreational" drug, but, for me and many other prostate cancer surgery patients, rehabilitative therapy. I complained of discrimination (Viagra vs. contraceptives) to the insurance company and my company's human resource dept., but they said they were just following "industry standards" for amount covered. I also let this drug company's representative that I wanted to complain about Viagra's TV campaign, Viva Viagra, because I think this contributed to the drug's recreational image which may have made it look bad to the insurance companies (they cover daily doses of lots more expensive drugs when they think that people are really sick), But I see why Pfizer did it. If insurance companies were going to discriminate against men regarding this drug, then they would hope to get guys to pay out of pocket to get it. And I understand why businesses'HR departments would pay for contraceptives and not Viagra: birth control pills are cheaper than having to both pay and replace a productive employee out on maternity leave, and who cares what men do or can't do after business hours.

Comment: The Bush Depression

In a few weeks we will make a choice that will decide our future.
I follow an economist named Bob Proctor. He has called the top and bottom of every market crash since the 70s correctly.
Also, he perfectly predicted the current real estate market meltdown and the picture he paints about what will happen in the next couple years
is terrifying.He thinks it will be worse then the great depression.
The banks in the U.S. are going under one after the other. Countrywide the largest morgage bank in the world,Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch which are 3 out of the top 5 wall street firms. Also, Fanny and Freddy Mae which hold 50 percent of the home loans in the United States.
The government took them over because they are essentially bankrupt.If they didn't the entire financially system would virtually shut down, the stock market would crash and we would suffer beyond what any of us have seen before.

McCain just like Bush " doesn't understand the economy".
That not just my opinion its his own words. Not only does he not understand how to fix it but he does not understand exactly what is broken.
It is no surprise that he doesn't. The people that make up these securities use complex mathematical models very few people understand.
Bush and McCain both can take the credit for this mess since they helped deregulate the laws that were protecting us.

Bush's economic advisor Phil Graham wrote the deregulation bill that allowed banks to take huge risks with all of our future.
Now, Phil Graham is the head of McCain's economic policy.He is also McCain's choice for the next secretary of the treasury.
No one in this country can afford for that to happen. The last time Bush met with his economic advisors was in March. He either didn't care or didn't realize that anything was wrong. Phil Graham had the guts to say that we are in a mental recession after he helped create the worst economy meltdown in our lifetime.
It will take the best and brightest minds in the world to get us out of this nightmare. As bad as Bush has done, McCain would be
even more destructive because things are in much worse shape. The next president will not inherit a surplus like Bush did but a tanking economy and a 11,600,000,000,000 (trillion) dollars deficit.Bush created a national debt larger then the first 42 presidents combined
If you do what you have always done then you will get what you have always got.
When it comes to policy Bush and McCain are the same 90 percent of the time.
So why are the polls even close then ?
The chairman of McCains campaign recently said that people don't vote on issues they vote on a personality composite. Which means he is trying to sell you personality instead of results.
Let's teach him we are smarter than that .

31 states are voting now, dont wait
Elect Obama Biden 2008




Check out this video of sarah palins interview before you vote


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r36Xc0GG4i

AKA, the question is still a valid one. Unless and until ALL insurers in ALL states cover ALL methods of birth control in addition to ED meds, the question is a valid one.

That Sen. McCain couldn't answer the question when it was put to him.,despite the fact that he had voted a few years ago to allow just this type of gender-based discrimination, speaks volumes about his views of women and of women's rights, including their reproductive ones. Kinder, kuchen, kirch, right, Senator?

I don't know of any insurance plan that doesn't cover birth control. This is a stupid thing for reporters to even be asking John McCain about. And please, are we really supposed to vote for president based on whether or not insurance companies provide birth control? Get a grip!

I believe the criticism was that McCain VOTED FOR insurance coverage for men and VOTED AGAINST birth control insurance coverage for women. I don't think the question was whether or not the insurance companies made this determination. It had everything to do with how McCain voted on these two issues. Which brings me to the fact Senator McCain VOTED AGAINST Equal Pay for Women doing the same exact jobs as their male coworkers. Putting both of these issues together, I get the sense McCain care little, if at all, about women and their issues. WHY doesn't McCain want women to get Equal Pay? I think he has some explaining to do. The same goes for his voting against Birth Control.

McCain is so lame, so pitifull. Such a CRY BABY and a LIAR. He is everything that he claim Obama to be. I think McCain is a waste of skin. You know? McCain makes me sick with his crap.

McCain is so lame. It's bad enough that he is a cry baby and a lier. He is everything he claims Obama to be. What a waste of skin McCain is.

This article is skating past the real issue by burying the DETAILS on the 2nd page when they should be the title to the article. The point the reporter was making was, that while his campaign was feigning support for the support of contraceptive coverage, (an issue his campaign raised through surrogates), he had in fact voted multiple times against mandates for the very same coverage. Flip flopping was the issue, not the state of coverage which as is written herein is still at the mercy of employers who self cover. This is just sloppy reporting that muddies the truth around this issue. You can't cover for McCains flubs and flips forever, there are just too many now, Just report the simple facts as they are and let the voter decide. Quit trying to GUIDE the discussion.

This article is skating past the real issue by burying the DETAILS on the 2nd page when they should be the title to the article. The point the reporter was making was, that while his campaign was feigning support for the support of contraceptive coverage, (an issue his campaign raised through surrogates), he had in fact voted multiple times against mandates for the very same coverage. Flip flopping was the issue, not the state of coverage which as is written herein is still at the mercy of employers who self cover. This is just sloppy reporting that muddies the truth around this issue. You can't cover for McCains flubs and flips forever, there are just too many now, Just report the simple facts as they are and let the voter decide. Quit trying to GUIDE the discussion.

I live in Japan where national health insuarance is compulsory and controlled by the government. It covers everyone, except illegal aliens. Even these illegals can receive free treatment for minor ailments and surgeries. I pay $99 out of my $2700/mth salarly for my premium. Last year when I lost my job, my insurance premium was reduced to $11 per month. Japan's heath care system is not the best in the world but ,at least, no family goes bankrupt because of medical bills. Meanwhile, I live in a government's 3 bedroom semi-cozy apartment and pay only $98 per month. And I'm not even a citizen. Why the USA , the
richest country in the world, cannot provide healty care for her citizens marvels me.

Almost every other civilized country has health care for every citizen. Germany and Belgium are some of the best....I believe Frontline on PBS had a show on about different countries' health care. When asked the question, "does anyone go bankrupt in this country because of medical bills?", the answer was always no accompanied by a look of astonishment. Only in this country, where this administration has made bankruptcy almost impossible for the average American, do people loose everything when a family member becomes ill.

One thing I know for certain is that my insurance company pays for Viagra, but not for fertility medications for women. Having spoken to people with other insurance policies, it seems I am not alone. This is a distinct discrepancy between the way men and women are treated in the insurance industry.