Ron Pollack Quotations

My guess is the deadline will change. The more fundamental changes will have to await another president because President Bush is so strongly opposed to these.

Of all the policy issues going on right now in Washington, this is probably the most important.

Seniors across the country will be absolutely bewildered by the choices they are confronted with and they are going to have a very difficult time navigating those choices.

I don't believe there's any serious likelihood the private plans will come close to matching the prices that the VA has achieved,

He didn't even try to make a defense for how well it's working or how it's going to improve. He was silent about it, and that spoke volumes about how the failure is being perceived in the White House.

If we moderate prices, it's not the research and development budgets that would be the first to go down. The profit margins, which are three to four times the profit margins of other Fortune 500 companies, they might go down somewhat -- not research and development,

People who need healthcare the most, those with serious health conditions, with illnesses and disabilities are going to be potentially harmed in a very significant way by this proposal.

Republicans have to decide: Do we create an issue in 2000 or do we provide what people want: real patient protection,

Year after year, as drug prices rise much faster than inflation, more and more seniors are forced to go without much-needed medications. The millions of low-income seniors, who subsist on Social Security checks that rise no faster than inflation, can no longer afford skyrocketing drug prices. Congress must act now to provide real relief to them.

This program, with such large expenditures, is only adding a small number of people to drug coverage.

When you are dealing with drug prices increasing two, three times the rate of inflation, the impact is extraordinary, especially for a population that is living on a fixed income,

What the president is proposing is warmed-over, stale soup but with a recipe that is going to be harmful to the majority of Americans.

The survey underscores the fundamental flaws of the new Medicare legislation. Those flaws are producing bewilderment and confusion among seniors and will result in a far more costly program for America's seniors and taxpayers.

The seniors who need it the most are the ones facing the biggest obstacles.

The most important protections should be part of a real patients' rights bill -- and I stress the word 'real,'

There's no doubt that it is becoming a huge political issue and may have a substantial impact on control of both houses of Congress.

This is an historic precedent that creates a partnership involving the public and private sector, as well as employers and individuals.

I have not seen a system proposed that realistically provides the subsidies necessary to make an individual mandate work. I'm not crazy about employer-based systems, but that's what we've got, and I would like to strengthen rather than weaken it.

I'm glad he's making the health affordability crisis a priority. But this proposal, unfortunately, will make the affordability crisis worse.

I'm glad (the president) is making the health affordability crisis a priority. But this proposal, unfortunately, will make the affordability crisis worse.

The large and increasing number of uninsured Americans is no longer simply an altruistic concern on behalf of those without health coverage, but a matter of self-interest for everyone, ... The stakes are high both for businesses and for workers who do have health insurance because they bear the brunt of costs for the uninsured.

The continued prohibition against such bargaining will not only hurt seniors but will fleece the American taxpayer,

They wanted lots of different plans, none of which would have the bargaining clout to get prices down.

The drug companies are simply trying to make a profit, ... They are not trying to tell us what the best thing is for our health.

For an administration that frequently provides inaccurate information, the use of the 25 million enrollment figure breaks new ground in misleading propaganda. The only real number that is worth focusing on is the approximately 4 million to 5 million who now have prescription drug coverage who did not have it prior to the start of the program. Unfortunately, the administration is trying to mask that failure with an exaggerated number that has nothing to do with new people who gained coverage.

For all the hullabaloo and all the expenditures, they've only added somewhat more than 3 million people. That's horribly disappointing.

It's the equivalent of throwing a 10-foot rope to someone in a 40-foot hole.

What that says to an HMO is, well, heck, we'll just delay and delay and deny and deny, because the worst thing that could happen to us is we'll have to pay for the service we originally denied,

This is undoubtedly a public relations blitz by Wal-Mart. They're trying to fend off state legislation, so this sounds like rather empty rhetoric. For a company that's virtually larger than any company in the world to be crying that they don't have the resources, I don't think too many people are going to give much credence to that.