$3 Billion,405 MIllion,669 Thousand, 482

That's BILLION, with a "B."

Lotsa money. About One THOUSAND dollars for every living man, woman, and child in the ENTIRE country.

It's what the Health Insurance Parasites and Big Pharma have spent, in the last 10 years, to ensure that you and I will never have comprehensive, universal health care. I betcha you wish they'd given it to you instead of the regulators, doncha?

But that money's well spent because it went to guarantee that, whatsoever the eventual Obama health-care compromise looks like, it will NOT in any way diminish the revenues--and therefore the clout--of the Health Insurance and Big Pharma parasites, or reduce their influence in patient-care decisions. If it happens by some fluke that there are some benefits to the people, well you know what the say: Shit happens.

Down With Tyranny has a semi-hopeful (and, to the extent that it is optimistic, also delusional) post about the matter, along with names and phone numbers of the relevant legislators who can be counted upon to reply politely to your query, look thoughtful, and only then totally ignore your pleadings...