Silky Pony's New Plan to Tax You to Pay Pharmaceutical Companies and Raise Insurance Costs

This idea seems ever bit as dim as his plan to rely on a re-branded Peace Corps to fight terrorism.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards wants to reduce the cost of U.S. health care by removing patents for breakthrough drugs and requiring health insurance companies to spend at least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care.

The former North Carolina senator was expected to discuss details of a universal health care proposal he released in February during an appearance Thursday at the Riverside Health Center.

Edwards' plan would remove long-term patents for companies that develop breakthrough drugs and then reap large profits because of the monopolies those patents provide, according to a statement by Edwards obtained Wednesday evening.

Edwards said offering cash incentives instead would allow multiple companies to produce those drugs and drive down prices.

By reducing pharmaceutical companies ability to make a profit from patented drugs, Edwards would be encouraging them to spend less money on researching and developing new cures. After all, these are drug companies, and companies exist to make a profit. Why would companies spend time and billions of dollars developing new and more effective drugs, when Edwards is going to strip away their ability to recoup development costs and turn a profit by forcing these new drugs to become generic by stripping away patents?

But he already has a solution.

Edwards promises to pay companies to keep developing new drugs with "cash incentives." We all know where these incentives would come from. To make good on his promise, Edwards will foist new taxes upon the American taxpayer.

As a result, the cost of new drugs won't actually go down, you'll just be paying from them whether you need them, or not, through your federal taxes.

The other part of Edward's "brilliant" health care plan is to force insurers to spend 85% of their premiums on patient care. this sounds great, until once again economics comes into play. Insurers are in business to make money, and if they can't within the framework you're paying for now, you can expect the premium costs to skyrocket until that 15% is large enough to cover their operating costs and keep their shareholders happy.

I don't know whom the Edwards campaign keeps paying to come up with these hare-brained schemes, but they are obviously paying them far too much.