[Ngo-sanrm] Y tá Mỹ đoàn kết để Stop TPP. American nurses oppose TPP because drug prices will increase (also in Vietnam)

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Mon Mar 2 11:56:12 GMT 2015


​
Hiện nay rất nhiều y tá Mỹ đang phản đối Hiệp định Hợp tác xuyên Thái Bình
Dương và thủ tục “Rút gọn” bởi vì nó đang làm tăng chi phí chăm sóc sức
khỏe nói chung và giá thuốc cho bệnh nhân nói riêng.

Không chỉ có các gia đình người Mỹ, mà ngay cả các gia đình Việt nam cũng
sẽ bị ảnh hưởng nặng nề bởi Hiệp định này. Chi phí thuốc đắt đỏ sắp tới sẽ
ảnh hưởng nghiêm trọng những gia đình bệnh nhân nghèo đang được hưởng từ
chính sách trợ giá thuốc của chính phủ.



Hiệp định này sẽ đi ngược lại những quy định nhằm bảo vệ người dân Việt nam
khỏi sự tác động mạnh mẽ của các hãng thuốc, các phương thức tiếp cận thị
trường của các thương hiệu quốc tế. Các loại thuốc sản xuất ở Việt nam sẽ
không còn khả năng cạnh tranh. Giá thuốc căn bản cho người dân sẽ bị đẩy
lên theo giá quốc tế.


Tất cả người dân Việt nam cần phải biết được hậu quả nghiêm trọng của hiệp
định TPP và từ đó thúc giục chính phủ của mình không nên ký kết hiệp định
này.

*​​CHUCK SEARCY*

*M    +8 490 342 0769*

*E     chuckusvn at gmail.com <chuckusvn at gmail.com>*

*Sk   chucksearcy*



American nurses are opposing the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and "Fast
Track" authority because it will increase the cost of health care, and
pharmaceuticals in particular, for nearly everyone who must buy medicine.



Not only American families, but Vietnamese families will be losers.  Heavy
new costs for medicines will hurt poor Vietnamese families who now benefit
from government policies that keep drug prices low.



The TPP will override Vietnamese law that protects Vietnamese from the
predatory sales and marketing practices of international drug brands.
Generic drugs and Vietnamese medicines made in Vietnam will no longer be
able to compete.  Drug prices for ordinary Vietnamese will rise to
international levels.



The Vietnamese people should know the consequences of the TPP and urge
their government not to sign it.


CHUCK

 ​

*CHUCK SEARCY*

*M    +8 490 342 0769*

*E     chuckusvn at gmail.com <chuckusvn at gmail.com>*

*Sk   chucksearcy*

​

Naked Capitalism
<http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/nurses-unite-to-stop-transpacific-partnership-fast-track.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29>
​​
Nurses Unite to Stop TransPacific Partnership Fast Track
<http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/nurses-unite-to-stop-transpacific-partnership-fast-track.html>


Posted on March 1, 2015
<http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/nurses-unite-to-stop-transpacific-partnership-fast-track.html>
 by Yves Smith <http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/author/yves-smith>

In case you haven’t noticed, nurses unions have emerged as a particularly
powerful and credible labor/lobbying group. So it’s encouraging to see them
use their bully pulpit to rally voters to contact their Congresscritters
and voice opposition to the upcoming vote on so-called fast track authority
for the TransPacific Partnership. I’m heartened to see, in the Real News
Network video below, that the nurses’ representative puts forward compact,
factually sound arguments as to why this misnamed “trade deal” is a sop to
major corporations at the expense of citizens.

JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: On Capitol Hill, there’s growing buzz
that a bill granting fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific
Partnership, or TPP, could be up for a vote next week. The TPP involves 40
percent of the global economy. And if this bill moves forward, Congress
would be allowed to pass it with a simple up or down vote, with no debate.

But that’s not going over very well with the nurses representing the union
National Nurses United. They gathered in Washington, D.C., on Thursday with
one simple message for members of Congress.

JEAN ROSS, COPRESIDENT, NATIONAL NURSES UNITED: Well, we want Congress to
not abdicate its responsibility. Right now, if you look at this, what you
know of it–and we know very little, because it’s negotiated in secret,
right? Corporations have input. They’re basically writing a law for the
people. The corporations are writing it. So the few people from Congress
that have seen it, that’s one thing. You’re not supposed to abdicate your
responsibility for debating, for amending, for asking what you should be
asking: how does it affect the public that I represent? That’s what we
expect them to do. And fast track is a way of totally abdicating that
responsibility. It just says yes or no. You might even be able to see it in
front of you, the many, many, many pages of it. There’s 29 chapters, and
only five of them deal with trade. So their specious argument about you
shouldn’t be against free trade–we’re not against trade. Trade has to
happen. But we care how it’s done and how it affects us.

DESVARIEUX: How the TPP will affect everyday people is still largely
unknown, which is why some members of Congress, like Connecticut Democratic
representative Rosa DeLauro, says that transparency must be demanded by the
public.

ROSA DELAURO, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-CT-3): –as [incompr.] as taxpayers, as
the American public have a right to have more member of Congress have input
into a process that has wide-ranging effects on every aspect of our lives.
That’s simply what we are asking for.

DESVARIEUX: But not all members of the Democratic Party are as vocal.
Ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden is joining
Republicans who will be pushing for fast-track authority. Currently,
lawmakers can request to see chapters of the text being negotiated but are
not allowed to bring aides. Also, the text has not been released to the
public. What is known about the TPP deal is through documents leaked to
WikiLeaks. One of those chapters released is the health care annex, which
would affect medicine prices.

DEBORAH BURGER, COPRESIDENT, NATIONAL NURSES UNITED: –the everyday life of
nurses providing health care and nursing care to our patients. I’m sure
you’ve heard many people talk about the expansion of the protections for
brand-name drugs from, quote, eight years up to 12 years. And who knows? It
might even go up to 20. Canada already has an eight-year limit on brand
names. This is going to change that.

DESVARIEUX: Higher prices for medication would hurt the already suffering
middle class, says nurse Beverly VanBuren. She said her patients are
already struggling to pay for medications now.

BEVERLY VANBUREN, NATIONAL NURSES UNITED: A patient that had a transplant
that ended up going back on dialysis because that patient cannot afford
medication to keep the transplanted organ alive, survival. And now, after
thousands and thousands of dollars we spent transplanting this organ, this
poor person is back on dialysis.

DESVARIEUX: Another major issue with the TPP deal is how it handles legal
matters. It creates extrajudicial tribunals outside of a country’s legal
system. Critics say this will undermine a country’s legal system, placing
corporations’ ambitions over people, something Nurse Burger says has
happened with past free trade agreements, like the North American Free
Trade Agreement, known as NAFTA.

BURGER: And we already know that under NAFTA, Eli Lilly did sue the
Canadian government over their bulk purchase agreements, and also sued
successfully the Australian government over their plain package labeling
for cigarette smoking and tobacco sales. And they have won those in the
under the NAFTA agreement.

If you look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, that is NAFTA on
steroids. It gives a star chamber–three lawyers that have a conflict of
interest in deciding whether a corporation wins or loses their lawsuit
against a certain state.

But it’s not a two-way street. In laws, you can go to a court and actually
appeal a decision. In this process, under the Trans-Pacific Partnership
agreement, there is a star chamber with three lawyers that get paid $700 an
hour to make a decision by the courts in that group, and their decision is
final and binding on all signatories to the treaty.

DESVARIEUX: The TPP is still not final, and nurses from the National Nurses
United are pressuring members of Congress to reject a fast-track proposal,
something they say they will remember next election cycle.

ROSS: You know, if you don’t do the will of the people, the real people,
and not corporation, which is a thing, not a person, then yes, we do need
to look at that, because you need to start listening to what we’re saying
and how it’s affecting us.

DESVARIEUX: For The Real News Network, Jessica Desvarieux, Washington.
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