Seniors denied Rx drug benefits...LOOK at what these bastards have done.

[in_cog_ni_to]

Repukes screw up EVERYTHING they touch. What a damn disaster. Our poor seniors.:(



Seniors denied Rx drug benefits
By Richard Wolf and Julie Appleby, USA TODAY
Thu Jan 12, 5:34 PM

Medicare's new prescription-drug program is causing thousands of low-income seniors and disabled Americans to lose their drug benefits, prompting at least 14 states to pay for their prescriptions.

The problem affects thousands of the 6.2 million people whose drug coverage was automatically transferred from Medicaid to Medicare this month. At drugstores nationwide, pharmacists are telling beneficiaries that they're not enrolled, or their drugs aren't covered, or they must pay deductibles and larger co-payments than they can afford, interviews with federal, state and local officials show. (Related story: Benefit costly for some poor)

The trouble stems from worse than expected start-up problems with the new Medicare drug plan, which began Jan. 1. "It's a major public health crisis," says Jeanne Finberg of the National Senior Citizens Law Center. "People are trying to get their drugs, and they can't get them."]/b]

That has prompted states from Maine to Hawaii to intervene. They have promised to pay for temporary coverage while the federal government, insurers and pharmacists fix the problems. Most states have said they will seek reimbursement from Medicare or the private insurance plans administering the new drug benefit.<snip>


<snip>
California, Illinois and Pennsylvania became the biggest states Thursday to say they will pay for drugs denied to those switching from Medicaid to Medicare coverage. "Hopefully the glitches with the federal program will be worked out soon, but until then we're going to take care of those who need their prescription drugs," said Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.<snip>

More at link:
http://www.comcast.net/news/usatoday/index.jsp?fn=/2006/01/12/240307.html

[RoyGBiv]

1. I am shocked ...

Shocked, I tell you!

Anyone who didn't see this coming is a complete fucking moron.

[mrcheerful]

2. After seeing what medicare had to offer I

told my parents and gf's parents that they were going to get screwed. None of the drug programs was worh a tinkers damn nor did they offer anything to actually save re-tirees or handi cappers a thin dime, but insurence companies and drug companies sure make out like a bandit in a policeless country. The screwing you get for the screwing you got.

[acmejack]

6. Hey you got $300 didn't you?

[juliana24]

18. Great, we can all buy a day's medications for our elders with it!

:-(

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. What REALLY pisses me off...

We all knew the Medicare plan was a DISASTER, but the repukes kept lying their asses off about how wonderful it is, how our seniors will be thankful and how much better the program is for the poor. 1 FREAKIN' WEEK AFTER[/b[ the program went into effect, republican whispers surfaced about how BAD the plan actually is. Behind closed doors on the hill, they were admitting how HORRIBLE it is:grr: Fuckers. I hate these people.:grr:

[atreides1]

11. Not Surprised

This plan is the Republican version of Zyklon-B, just as deadly, but with little to no mess to clean up afterwards.

[leftchick]

3. we all knew this would happen last year

MFers want us all to die. :cry:

[0007]

13. Yes, we did know that this was gonna happen. And with the

rising cost of food and energy, this senior is completely screwed.

They can euthanize me any time they want. I'm ready! But no way that'll happen, cuz they want you to die slowly and painfully, the good Ole' Christian way. Fuck it!

:hi:

[leftchick]

14. :(

I am so sorry and I am so sad for us all. :cry:

[Plausible]

4. Prilosec $90

A disabled acquaintance was telling me today he got his meds ok but the receipt showed the cost of Prilosec at $90 plus. Prilosec is available OTC for much less and cost him much less as a prescription before Plan D went into effect in January.

Rethugs set it up so that the government cannot negotiate prices.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. Well, hell...the pharmaceutical companies need to make their mega profits,

we shouldn't expect the prices to be less! Poor pharmaceutical company may lose a buck.:sarcasm:

BTW...the pharmaceutical companies wrote the damn bill.:grr:

[DainBramaged]

8. Prescription Prilosec WAY better than OTC version.

Took it from early nineties till it went otc. Could go 3 or 4 days before I needed another. OTC barely lasts a day. And Nexium is not as good. I have real GURD and massive hiatal hernia so surgery isn't an option. Prilosec used to cost $134 before the otc version came out, so $90 is an improvement, but it still is highway robbery.

[RoyGBiv]

15. Try $649 ...

That's what my 3 mo prescription was going to cost me, out of pocket, before the insurance company would *consider* whether they would pay for it. Seems I'm too young to have such problems and that this needed to be reviewed to determine validity of the claim. Guess they're trying to crack down on that raging Prilosec-abuse problem. :eyes:

I went without, lived in pain for a long time, ate a lot of lettuce, drank a lot of water, and slept in a chair. Luckily I am young enough that such drastic measure can have an impact. The elderly are just screwed.

The $90 price tag is probably what it costs after the negotiated price, whatever that really means. The whole system is a gigantic cluster-fuck.

[cantstandbush]

9. Now didn't the "experts" say this would happen? Isn't this enough for

impeachment and a resounding defeat of Republicans in elections for the next 30 years?

[peacetalksforall]

10. Isn't this an opportunity to shout and point at the Republicans? Isn't

this another election.

In the meantime, I hope an exact dollar increse statistic is kept. And I hope it is possible to clock hospital admittances as a result of no prescriptions. Hopefully, there won't be death statistics. But, don't pres. drugs keep some people alive, not just adjusted?

This is ammunition? Which Dems are standing in the way if this can be turned into a country crisis and given what we know about extracted block partisan voting - the Republicans brought this on.

Watch, they're going to blame it on Clinton.

[asjr]

12. Screwups continue. I finally heard from SS

today saying I will not qualify for help because I made too much money. They had me listed as receiving over $23,000 last year. I actually made $11,000. They had to have pulled that figure out of their asses. Now I have to go to the local SS office and try to clear it up. And you know how long that may take. I may die before they correct it.

[mrcheerful]

16. Nah that happened to me last year

it only took 6 hours and 2 trips to clear up the fact that I wasn't getting 5,679.00 a month. It was a computer mistake, it added a 9 to my disabilty check for the month of feb. The real problem was getting the SSI back and my medicaid coverage. That took 3 months.

[asjr]

19. Thanks for the info. I know it will take time, but

it really made me angry. Why couldn't they have just looked at my file to see what I really made.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Yuo now I am not shocked

we warned folks this was comming, hell the AARP did as well.. for all it did

[mom cat]

20. The only bright spot is that the coverage gap, the "donut hole",

will show up for election time this year. If people live that long.

[Cleita]

21. I refuse to partake of the program. I'm boycotting it and

the day I can't pay for any needed medication, I say the Hell with it. I'm just happy that my husband who did need some very expensive medication passed on before this travesty because I'm certain his medicine is now two to three times more expensive.

[Sal Minella]

22. Same here. Screw 'em. I'll take generics or nothing.

[ninkasi]

23. Just remember...

there is no legislation, and no policy, that Bush will push unless it has major benefits to corporate interests. For the Medicare Drug Benefit, the benefit is to the pharma industry. Bush, and conservatives, will not endorse anything that does not help their masters, big corporations. We should have a law that any legislation passed has to spell out, in plain and clear language, who will benefit the most. If the benefits go to the citizens of the country, fine...if the benefits are favoring corporate interests, then that piece of legislation needs to be rewritten.