Policy Pimps and Welfare Queens

Here we have an elaborate scheme where University of Louisville is caught up in the middle laundrying Medicaid money in order for the state to maximize its revenues by claiming more Medicaid funds.

The levels of fraud, waste and abuse in social welfare programs do not really take place with its recipients and if so, it is minimal.  Here is an example.

Many years ago, President Reagan made use of a term that has become synonymous with individuals on public assistance.  That term is the "Welfare Queen".

The Welfare Queen was promoted as the representative icon of all welfare persons.  She was the one who would wear mink coat, driving a Cadillac, while buying groceries with food stamps with 8 kids at home.

The nation has since adopted this distorted perception of welfare recipients as having children for money and being lazy.

It was the Heritage Foundation that created the image of the Welfare Queen.  The story was based upon the fraudulent activities of one woman who fraudulently claimed around $80,000.00 in welfare.

I consider the Welfare Queen to be one of the greatest propaganda tactics of all times.  Here you have an immediate, instant, on the spot available heuristic there to whip out every time there are stories such as the ones in the video, below.

A welfare queen is a pejorative phrase used in the United States to describe people who are accused of collecting excessive welfare payments through fraud or manipulation. Sensational reporting on welfare fraud began during the early-1960s, appearing in general interest magazines such as Readers Digest. The term entered the American lexiconduring Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign when he described a "welfare queen" from Chicago's South Side.^[1]Since then, it has become a stigmatizing label placed on recidivist poor mothers, with studies showing that it often carries gendered and racial connotations.

David Brennan, AstraZenneca Policy Pimp

A policy pimp is a phrase of parody used in the United States to describe a corporation or state, federally prosecuted of "illegally and wrongfully" filing false claims for reimbursement of welfare payments through Social Security programs of Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE.  Censored reporting on corporate welfare fraud began during the early 1960's, manifesting in the promotion of a national healthcare system, what is known today as medical insurance.  Pharmaceutical corporations funded the design of university curriculum of social work and psychiatry, federal and state healthcare policies, and lobbyied as special interest groups to promote social programs which generated more customers who were mandated to take psychotic medications, allowed for clinical testing on foster children, all reimbursed through federal medical welfare programs.  Since then, the appellation of policy pimps has become a national sensation, exposing the harmful nature of drugs such as Seroquel, Celexa, Geodon, Lexapro and Zyprexa.  


Now, every time there is a major story of a pharmaceutical company or state being prosecuted for billions in welfare fraud, the story gets swept under the rug and reworked to blame the Welfare Queen by their corporately billionaire-funded minions, the Tea Party and their bought and paid for propaganda merchants.  Tea Party campaigns are funded to stop socialism, their new name for welfare.  Tea Party campaigns are also funded to distract the public from the true Welfare Kings.


Meet some Policy Pimps

Pfizer Geodon Tested on Kids

The Pfizer Geodon Trial And Physician Mishaps

By Ed Silverman
April 28, 2010

Earlier this month, the FDA sent Pfizer a warning letter for failing to properly monitor pediatric clinical trials in which at least 13 children with bipolar disorder experienced overdosing that led to restless legs, tremors, involuntary facial movements and a serious skin disorder.

This is a big problem for the drugmaker, since Pfizer hopes to receive an extra six months of marketing exclusivity in return for having conducted the pediatric trials. But the dosing scandal could prompt the FDA to request further trials, which would require so much additional time that exclusivity would likely be lost, since the basic Geodon patent expires in 2012. This would also delay pediatric approval, which would expand the possibilities for a drug that generated $1.1 billion in sales last year.

But who were some of the doctors involved? …

…there was Sohail Punjwani, who was cited for numerous instances in which the wrong dosage was given children. Punjwani ran one of three sites that were responsible for 40 patients receiving incorrect doses, or 16 percent of the kids involved, and half of them were given more than the maximum tolerated dose for the trial…

Punjwani has made headlines in Florida, where he is based, for treating 7-year-old Gabriel Myers, who hanged himself with a shower cord in a foster home. The boy’s death prompted a probe by a Department of Children & Families task force and proposed legislation before the Florida Senate. He did not respond to messages.

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Note: The FDA warning letter to Pfizer states that informed consent was not obtained in these clinical trials. See letter here: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm208976.htm


The FDA warning letter to Punjwani can be found here: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm202862.htm