THREAD: Big drug companies want Floridians to be afraid of what could happen if the Florida Legislature passes a law (#HB19) that would allow Floridians access to FDA approved drugs wholesaled from Canada at much lower prices through local pharmacies. 1/ #FlLeg#FlPol
The @PhRMA front group is making bogus arguments about the safety of this proposal with examples that don't relate to the bill at all. The bill relies on the US FDA establishing an approval system covers drugs imported from Canada, and wouldn’t include opioids or benzoates. 2/
But besides the bogus arguments being made, the sham @PhRMA front group is missing a much more central point: this is Florida. There are so many things for us to be scared of besides Canadians secretly poisoning our drugs. Here’s what’s #ScarierThanCanadaRx 3/
Then there’s animals: Gators, crocodiles, pythons that eat gators, monitor lizards, bears, ducks, killer snails, killer Africanized bees, killer lots of things. All in Florida, all #ScarierThanCanadaRx 5/
Then there’s palmetto bugs. They get their own tweet. The first time you go to kill what you thought was a roach only to have it fly in your face, you know what fear is. #ScarierThanCanadaRx 6/
Then there’s drivers. Beyond the Florida Man, people who drive in Florida kill more pedestrians than almost any other state. #ScarierThanCanadaRx 7/
Then there’s natural disasters. Hurricanes, obviously. Tornados. Lightning capitol of the world. #ScarierThanCanadaRx 8/
There’s other scary natural phenomenon lately, too: blue-green toxic algae, red tide, King floods, the concern that we are slowly sinking into the sea. All #ScarierThanCanadaRx 9/
We are Floridians. If we scared easily, we’d live somewhere else. But here are two more things that are #ScarierThanCanadaRx 10/
1) It’s #ScarierThanCanadaRx that so many Floridians have to make tough choices about food, power bills, rent and medicine. Many don’t fill rx or skip medicines their doctors prescribe. All because @PhRMA is maximizing profits on the backs of sick Americans. 11/
2) It’s also #ScarierThanCanadaRx that our media and legislators don’t have the time to dig into the bogus arguments of sham front groups to realize that HB 19 has a real chance to offer struggling Floridians safe, FDA-approved drugs at lower prices. #StopRxGreed 12/12
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In August, President Trump signed an executive order designed to suspend payroll taxes through the end of the year. And he said, if re-elected, he would terminate the payroll tax.
President Trump has pledged in 1/
the past to protect Social Security — but his statement raises *serious* questions about its future.
Just last week, the Social Security Administration chief actuary said if not replaced, terminating the payroll tax would deplete the Social Security trust fund by 2023, "with 2/
no ability to pay benefits thereafter."
Reminder: Social Security is the largest source of retirement income for most Americans, and nearly the ONLY source of income for 1 in 4 Americans.
Any suspension, reduction, or elimination of the payroll tax puts Social Security 3/
So we'll give it a go! Here in Florida we advocate for:
☑️ Lower utility rates
☑️ Affordable housing for seniors
☑️ Walkable & livable communities for all ages & abilities
☑️ Estate planning
☑️ Strengthening the guardianship system to protect vulnerable adults
☑️ & a lot more!
In re: lower Rx drugs for our 2.8M members and fellow Floridians, we want:
☑️Lower cost, FDA inspected, imported prescription drugs & Price transparency
☑️Seniors to not have to ration medications or choose between keeping the AC on and/or food because of price gouging 3/
BREAKING: AARP has filed an amicus brief to save the Affordable Care Act: bit.ly/2ybzRIZ
AARP strongly opposes any attempts to take away the ACA’s protection for people with pre-existing health conditions or bring back an unfair #AgeTax on older adults.
What happened? A new threat has emerged in the form of a court challenge, Texas v. United States, which claims the ACA is unconstitutional and should be struck down. And last week, the Department of Justice declined to defend the law.
As written, the tax bill would:
—Explode the deficit by $1.5 trillion
—Put critical programs like Medicare and Medicaid at risk
—Likely increase taxes on many older Americans
—Increase health care costs & lower coverage.
Exploding the deficit would jeopardize the nation's ability to fund critical programs serving older Americans – and not just "down the road."
The nonpartisan CBO says Medicare would be cut by $25 billion NEXT YEAR alone. Unacceptable.
Medicare is a deal with the American people that must not be broken. We're calling on Congress to take action NOW to stop a $25 BILLION cut to Medicare.