Friday, August 13, 2004
Latest Media Corps assignment
Last week's assignment -- "Results Do Matter" -- was a great success.
The letters you wrote for this assignment were unique in that many of you framed the issue with an analogy -- and you did it with humor and sarcasm. When telling others why it's absurd for Bush to use "Results Matter" as a campaign slogan, an analogy works extremely well because it gives people a familiar frame through which to judge Bush -- after all, why should we hold him to lower standards than we would hold ourselves? Sarcasm and humor did a great job at keeping our letters succinct and to the point. Excellent work!
If you're looking for your next assignment, it's below. Next you'll find examples of some great "Results Do Matter" letters.
Matthew from Oregon wrote, "With a campaign slogan of 'Results Matter,' the current administration wants us to believe that four more years of lackluster-at-best performance is what this country needs. I don't know about your performance standards, but if I turned in the same "results" in my job as the current [R]epublican administration, I'd certainly be one of the more than one million Americans who lost a job between January 2001 and May 2004. [Bureau of Labor Statistics; Economic Report of the President, 2002]."
Rena from Virginia wrote, "Here's a really simple example of results if you ran your household the way George W. Bush has been running the US economy: You would have been out of work at some point in the past year. When you found another job, it would pay about $9,000 less than the one you had previously. To compound the problems created by your unemployment and lower-paying job, you would grossly overspend your means, running yourself into debt from which you would have a nearly-impossible time recovering. Results DO matter, and the President's results speak volumes."
Your Next Assignment:
The Bush Prescription Drug Plan is a sham. The health care industry spent over $150 million lobbying for the Bush drug plan. That's why George Bush doesn't allow seniors to get drugs from Canada that are up to 80% cheaper. That's why the Bush Drug Plan doesn't allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper drugs for seniors like the Veterans Administration does for vets (often 50% cheaper).
We need you to write a letter to the editor telling your community's seniors how George Bush has dramatically worsened the quality of their lives. The senior vote is extremely powerful -- in 2000, 72% of registered seniors ages 65 to 72 voted. In 2000, Al Gore won the seniors vote 50% to 47%.
• Writing points on both Bush's failure to provide for America's seniors and John Kerry's plan for America's seniors are below.
• Click here to send your letter to your local newspaper. If you have the time, please consider handwriting your letter.
• Click here to share your letter with other Media Corps members.
Thank you,
Amanda Michel
Internet Team
Writing Points
Bush and America's Seniors
• George Bush prohibited Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of America's seniors. The administration's plan explicitly would not allow HHS to negotiate better prices or allow seniors to get more affordable prices available to Canada.
• George Bush opposed allowing the re-importation of cheaper, affordable prescription drugs from Canada.
• George Bush wants to privatize Social Security, cutting its guaranteed benefit by 40% or more.
John Kerry and America's Seniors
• John Kerry will protect and strengthen the Medicare program by ensuring that seniors have access to both quality care and a real drug benefit by blocking efforts to privatize the program.
• Kerry will fight to cut the costs of prescription drugs that have been rising 17% a year.
• Kerry will allow the safe re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada, because it is the right thing to do and it will dramatically cut costs for America's families and seniors.
• Kerry will allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs like the Veterans Administration does for veterans (often 50% cheaper).
Ohio Facts
UHCAN Ohio (Universal Health Coverage Action Network) of Ohio) has some useful facts from last year.
• An estimated 2,236,000 Ohioans have no prescription drug coverage.
• A recent study by Express Scripts Inc., a St. Louis-based pharmacy benefits manager, shows Ohio as one of 3 states whose residents were given the most prescriptions - 11.
• Last year, Ohio residents paid some $4.25 billion to brand name drug companies. If these same drugs were given the Federal Supply Schedule prices (discounted prices given to certain federal agencies), the brand name drug makers would receive payments of $2.7 billion, and Ohio residents would save some $1.54 billion. That is a 36.4 percent saving.
• U.S. Americans pay 30 percent to 70 percent more than Canadians and Mexicans for the same prescriptions.
• U.S. prescription drug spending rose nearly 17 percent in 1999 - some $99.6 billion, and analysts predict double-digit increases in spending per year until 2010. In the year 2000, Ohio residents paid some $4.25 billion to brand name drug makers.
• Pharmaceutical giants spend two or three times as much on marketing and sales as they do on research and development.
• The pharmaceutical industry is earning profits of 18.3 percent compared to an average profit of 5 percent for other industries.
The letters you wrote for this assignment were unique in that many of you framed the issue with an analogy -- and you did it with humor and sarcasm. When telling others why it's absurd for Bush to use "Results Matter" as a campaign slogan, an analogy works extremely well because it gives people a familiar frame through which to judge Bush -- after all, why should we hold him to lower standards than we would hold ourselves? Sarcasm and humor did a great job at keeping our letters succinct and to the point. Excellent work!
If you're looking for your next assignment, it's below. Next you'll find examples of some great "Results Do Matter" letters.
Matthew from Oregon wrote, "With a campaign slogan of 'Results Matter,' the current administration wants us to believe that four more years of lackluster-at-best performance is what this country needs. I don't know about your performance standards, but if I turned in the same "results" in my job as the current [R]epublican administration, I'd certainly be one of the more than one million Americans who lost a job between January 2001 and May 2004. [Bureau of Labor Statistics; Economic Report of the President, 2002]."
Rena from Virginia wrote, "Here's a really simple example of results if you ran your household the way George W. Bush has been running the US economy: You would have been out of work at some point in the past year. When you found another job, it would pay about $9,000 less than the one you had previously. To compound the problems created by your unemployment and lower-paying job, you would grossly overspend your means, running yourself into debt from which you would have a nearly-impossible time recovering. Results DO matter, and the President's results speak volumes."
Your Next Assignment:
The Bush Prescription Drug Plan is a sham. The health care industry spent over $150 million lobbying for the Bush drug plan. That's why George Bush doesn't allow seniors to get drugs from Canada that are up to 80% cheaper. That's why the Bush Drug Plan doesn't allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper drugs for seniors like the Veterans Administration does for vets (often 50% cheaper).
We need you to write a letter to the editor telling your community's seniors how George Bush has dramatically worsened the quality of their lives. The senior vote is extremely powerful -- in 2000, 72% of registered seniors ages 65 to 72 voted. In 2000, Al Gore won the seniors vote 50% to 47%.
• Writing points on both Bush's failure to provide for America's seniors and John Kerry's plan for America's seniors are below.
• Click here to send your letter to your local newspaper. If you have the time, please consider handwriting your letter.
• Click here to share your letter with other Media Corps members.
Thank you,
Amanda Michel
Internet Team
Writing Points
Bush and America's Seniors
• George Bush prohibited Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of America's seniors. The administration's plan explicitly would not allow HHS to negotiate better prices or allow seniors to get more affordable prices available to Canada.
• George Bush opposed allowing the re-importation of cheaper, affordable prescription drugs from Canada.
• George Bush wants to privatize Social Security, cutting its guaranteed benefit by 40% or more.
John Kerry and America's Seniors
• John Kerry will protect and strengthen the Medicare program by ensuring that seniors have access to both quality care and a real drug benefit by blocking efforts to privatize the program.
• Kerry will fight to cut the costs of prescription drugs that have been rising 17% a year.
• Kerry will allow the safe re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada, because it is the right thing to do and it will dramatically cut costs for America's families and seniors.
• Kerry will allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs like the Veterans Administration does for veterans (often 50% cheaper).
Ohio Facts
UHCAN Ohio (Universal Health Coverage Action Network) of Ohio) has some useful facts from last year.
• An estimated 2,236,000 Ohioans have no prescription drug coverage.
• A recent study by Express Scripts Inc., a St. Louis-based pharmacy benefits manager, shows Ohio as one of 3 states whose residents were given the most prescriptions - 11.
• Last year, Ohio residents paid some $4.25 billion to brand name drug companies. If these same drugs were given the Federal Supply Schedule prices (discounted prices given to certain federal agencies), the brand name drug makers would receive payments of $2.7 billion, and Ohio residents would save some $1.54 billion. That is a 36.4 percent saving.
• U.S. Americans pay 30 percent to 70 percent more than Canadians and Mexicans for the same prescriptions.
• U.S. prescription drug spending rose nearly 17 percent in 1999 - some $99.6 billion, and analysts predict double-digit increases in spending per year until 2010. In the year 2000, Ohio residents paid some $4.25 billion to brand name drug makers.
• Pharmaceutical giants spend two or three times as much on marketing and sales as they do on research and development.
• The pharmaceutical industry is earning profits of 18.3 percent compared to an average profit of 5 percent for other industries.
