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The Forsyth County News
Opinion
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America less likely than
Spain to bow to terror
WASHINGTON George
Friedman, who runs the Stratfor
private intelligence service, spot
ted a change in al Qaeda's out
look over the past year. The
Islamist terrorist organization,
which previously treated George
W. Bus'h as largely irrelevant to
its global designs, now has
zeroed in on the presideht.
Combining that change with the
terrorist triumph in Spain points
to an ominous trend in the war on
terrorism and in the U.S. pres
idential election.
Failure of the Arab "street" to
rise in response to the U.S. mili
tary intervention in Afghanistan
and Iraq has led to questions in
the Arab world about al Qaeda's
relevance. The coordinated attack
on Madrid commuter trains
showed al Qaeda still can create
havoc. However, the global sig
nificance is the electoral defeat of
Spain's conservative party.
Headed for victory against the
weak socialist opposition, the
popular regime was voted out
after the terrorist attack because it
sent troops to Iraq.
Al Qaeda’s regeneration
points to the risk of suffering
Spain's fate for any government
joining forces with President
Bush. But Friedman believes the
ultimate target is Bush himself,
predicting an attempted use of
terror to defeat him in November.
And that intent puts Sen. John
Kerry in an uncomfortable pos
ture. Kerry 's claim that unnamed
foreign leaders told him they
hoped for Bush’s defeat is regard
ed in Democratic circles as the
senator's first major blunder as
prospective nominee. He cannot
say w ho these leaders are. but the
Bush-Cheney campaign has
pointed to two overseas Kerry
boosters that the senator did not
have in mind: Kim Jong 11, North
Korea's communist dictator, and
Jose Luis Zapatero, Spain's
socialist prime minister-elect.
Kim's propaganda machine
lately has taken to boosting Kerry
and playing the American’s
speeches on state radio, but that
was no surprise to Japanese con
tacts who weeks ago w ere told of
"Dear Leader's" preference.
Zapatero stunned Spanish
Foreign Ministry professionals
Wednesday by noting with
approval that "the Americans will
do it (change governments as
Spain did) if things continue as
they are in Kerry's favor." The
foreigner whose approbation
Kerry surely disdains is Osama
bin Laden, but counter-terrorism
experts say the U.S. election has
become an al Qaeda priority.
After the stunning Spanish
election, a Stratfor report said,
"given the use of planted explo
sives in Madrid rather than sui-
On your payroll
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
RO. Box 3177, Cumming, GA 30028: (770) 887-4342
Mayor Pro-Tern, Lewis Ledbetter
205 Mountain Brook Dr.. Cumming, GA 30040: (770) 887-3019
Ralph Perry
1420 Pilgrim Rd., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-7474
Quincy Holton
103 Hickory Ridge Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279
Rupert Sexton
705 Pine Lake Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-4332
John Pugh
10813th St., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3342
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Charles Laughinghouse, Post 1
3550 Rosewicke Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-7937; office, (770) 886-2810
David “AJ." Pritchett, Post 2
4840 Chesterfield Court, Suwanee, GA 30024
(404) 392-6983; office, (770) 886-2809
John A. “Jack" Conway, Post 3
6130 Polo Club Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-9226; (770) 886-2807
March Kroeger, Post 4
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
office, (770) 886-2806
Eddie Taylor, Post 5
4195 Morningside Dr., Cumming, GA 30041
(770)886-2802
»- A )
Robert
Novak
cide bombers, al Qaeda is likely
planning to carry on w ith this tac
tic. particularly given the tremen
dous success of the operation in
Spain." Britain. Italy, Portugal,
the Netherlands, Poland.
Hungary and Australia were list
ed as U.S.-aligned nations risking
the Spanish punishment. Stratfor
added: "A wave of attacks in
those countries against soft tar
gets . . . could shift the global
balance."
A new al Qaeda strategy twist
was hinted last Thursday when
the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades,
which claimed responsibility for
the Madrid bombings, offered a
cease-fire if Spanish troops actu
ally leave Iraq as promised by
Zapatero. That first known possi
ble al Qaeda offer to negotiate
with the West pressures weak
European governments who
might prefer appeasement to the
fate of Spain.
However, in Friedman's opin
ion. al Qaeda's big target will be
the United States. He sees an
attack earlier (in the summer)
rather than later (in the autumn),
when it might boost Bush's re
election chances. "The grand
prize." said a Stratfor report,
"would be triggering an election
defeat for Bush something
that clearly would demonstrate
the group's influence over
Western powers."
The reaction from the left
wing of the Democratic Party
was sounded by Howard Dean,
clinging to his national platform
weeks after his presidential cam
paign collapsed. Feckless as ever,
Dean said Bush "was the one
who dragged our troops to Iraq,
which apparently has been a fac
tor in the death of 200 Spaniards
over the weekend." Kerry', clearly
appalled, was succinct in his
reaction to Dean: "It's not our
position."
Kerry is an experienced
politician who has been unchar
acteristically reckless in the
euphona of his party victory. He
is sailing dangerous waters, sup
ported by rogue dictators and
leftist opportunists around the
world and risking rejection at
home. Climaxing over three
centuries of defeat and decline
on the world stage. Spaniards
bowed to terrorism when they
voted. Americans are consider
ably less likely to make that
choice.
Robert Novak is a nationally
syndicated columnist and a tele
vision commentator.
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Hostility toward drug makers detrimental
By Kelly McCutchen
For the Forsyth County News
Prescription drug costs
represent 11 percent of total
U.S. health care spending,
according to the most recent
federal data. This relatively
small portion of our health
care spending, however, has
enormous potential to save
lives and reduce overall health
care costs.
Unfortunately, rather than
focusing on ways to enhance
the role of pharmaceuticals in
keeping people healthy, elect
ed officials are in danger of
chasing illusory savings via
failed regulatory' schemes such
as price controls.
It is by now an often
repeated fact that the 80/20
Rule applies to health care: 80
percent of the cost is driven by
just 20 percent of the people.
These individuals most often
suffer from multiple chronic
diseases such as hypertension,
congestive heart failure, dia
betes and depression. The sil
ver lining in this statistic is
that the majority of the health
care costs incurred by these
patients can be prevented.
One of the most important
elements of this strategy is to
ensure that these patients have
access to the prescription
drugs that can prevent or
reduce expensive complica
tions of their conditions. It
makes no sense to pay for kid
ney dialysis for a diabetic
patient, for example, when the
correct medication could have
prevented the complication in
the first place. Working with
these patients to help them
understand how' to manage
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
a < U.S. Sen. Zell Miller
Russell Senate Office Building, Room C-3
Washington. DC. 20510
(202) 224-3643; Fax: (202) 228-2090 »
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss > [
1019 Longworth House Office Building ■' ,
Washington, DC. 20515 E- ' q
(202) 224-3521 |
—< U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 10th District
2437 Raybum House Office Building,
I Washington, D.C. 20515
l * Gainesville: PO. Box 1015, Gainesville, GA 30503
1 -4 ■ Gainesville, (770) 535-2592: Washington: (202) 225-
1 30 5211; Fax: (202) 225-8272
U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District >
1727 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20515-1011 L .
Washington: (202) 225-4272; Fax: (202) 225-4696 1 I
STAJE.LEGISLATQRS H j
nrw,-,, < Sen. David Shafer, 48th District
jMBk 109 State Capitol
RFo" Atlanta, GA 30334
”... <4 (404)651-7738
hk Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District >
421 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334 M
Telephone: (404) 656-6578; (fax) (404) k 0
Hr 1 651-6768 lk "EU
LI ’*l < Sen. Dan Moody, 27th District
(770)495-3127;
IVI Office (404) 463-8055
<. I
their disease, including access
to the right medication and
ensuring they take it as pre
scribed, not only improves
their health but saves everyone
the expense of needless time
in the hospital.
A good example of such an
innovative program is in North
Carolina, where the city of
Asheville has reduced its
health care costs by focusing
on education and prevention.
The Washington Post reports
that in Asheville, “pharmacists
are paid to counsel patients,
offering advice on diet, exer
cise, stress reduction and med
ications. Although drug costs
rose, total health care spend
ing on diabetics fell from
57.042 per patient in 1996 to
about S4.(MX) apiece each year
since the program began, in
1997." City officials report
savings of S 4 for every $1
invested in the program.
Given the opportunity for
innovation, it is disappointing
to see that Georgia is allow ing
politics to trump policy and
patients when it comes to pre
scription drugs. As opposed to
most health care providers
who are struggling, most phar
maceutical manufacturers are
in good financial condition,
making them an easy target.
But easy does not equal right.
Georgia already benefits
from substantial discounts on
the purchase of pharmaceuti
cals for the Medicaid program.
This discount program means
the state purchases prescrip
tion drugs at 15 percent off the
manufacturers’ wholesale
price. These discounts
amounted to 5199 million in
2002.
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS -Thurtdiy, March 25,2004 -
Evidently, some people
don't think this is enough. A
further discount has been pro
posed. referred to as a supple
mental rebate. But it is a
“rebate" that amounts to
blackmail: If a drug manufac
turer refuses to provide this
proposed additional discount,
its prescription drugs would
be removed from the state's
preferred provider list. It
effectively means that the
company's drugs will not be
used unless a physician is
willing to navigate a maze of
bureaucracy on behalf of his
or her patient.
Even riskier to patients are
proposals that have recently
emerged to set outright price
controls on certain prescrip
tion drugs in Georgia. Basic
economic principles clearly
indicate that price controls
limit supply and tend to cause
unintended consequences. If
price controls were such a
great idea, why haven't we put
price controls on college
tuition, gasoline and child
care?
There are far more effec
tive ways to manage pharma
ceutical costs. The governor's
budget calls for a prescription
drug audit. Evidence from
other states shows that similar
audits have identified 1-3 per
cent savings on pharmaceuti
cal purchases by finding errors
in the complex formulas used
to calculate rebates and dis
counts. With Georgia purchas
ing more than $1 billion of
prescription drugs annually,
the savings should not be triv
ial.
A long-term approach
would be to create a buyer's
Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th District > I wtfr I
(770)466-1507;
Office (404) 463-1368 E ■ ■•0
< Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District
Legislative Office Building, Room 504 EL_ufi
- • 18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334
• • i (404) 656-0188, or (770) 887-0400, law office
Rep. Jan Jones, 38th District >
412 Legislative Office Building,
Atlanta GA 30334 f * *
(404) 656-0137 ArArf
B< Rep. Jack Murphy, 14th District
. Legislative office Building,
Room 612, Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0325; (770) 781-9319, home
BQARDjQFEDUCATIQN
Ann Crow
96 Barker Rd., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 887-9640; acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
PaulKreqger
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
(770) 889-9971; pkreager@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Nancy Roche
7840 Chestnut Hill Rd., Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 889-0229; nroche@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Rebecca K. Dowell
2030 Commonwealth Place, Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 844-0830; rdowell@lorsyth.kl2.gaus
Chairman Jeffrey Stephens
RO. Box 169, Cumming, GA 30028
(770) 889-1470; jstephens@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
market for prescription drugs.
All too often, physicians and
patients choose more expen
sive drugs than necessary
because physicians rarely have
access to pricing information
and individuals have little
financial incentive to care.
Creating a buyer's market
would require making phar
maceutical prices more trans
parent, providing information
on clinical effectiveness and
creating the right incentives.
A hostile policy toward
pharmaceutical companies is,
in fact, detrimental to patients
and their health care. Georgia
needs to embrace objective
policies that don't restrict doc
tors' and patients' ability to
choose the most effective
medications on the market, but
place the financial incentives
in the correct places. As the
state pursues strategies that
result in better health care for
less cost, policy-makers
should keep in mind that limit
ing medical options and
imposing price controls are
policies that lead in the oppo
site direction.
Kelly McCutchen is execu
tive vice president of the
Georgia Public Policy
Foundation, an independent
think tank that proposes prac
tical, market-oriented app
roaches to public policy to
improve the lives of
Georgians. Nothing written
here is to be construed as nec
essarily reflecting the views of
the Georgia Public Policy
Foundation or as an attempt
to aid or hinder the passage of
any bill before the U.S.
Congress or the Georgia
Legislature.
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