Problems with Medicare "Exploding in their (GOP) faces"

[kpete]

Problems with Medicare plan worry GOP

January 18, 2006


WASHINGTON -- The Medicare drug program that was supposed to win political points for Republicans has exploded in their faces as this election year has begun. It's a particularly vexing problem for the GOP, since older Americans are such active voters and no one seeking office wants to see them angry.

Since the Bush administration's prescription medicine program began on Jan. 1, tens of thousands of elderly people have been unable to get medicines promised by the government. Some 20 states have had to jump in to help them.

And while officials promised anew on Tuesday that a fix was on the way, Democrats pointed to the confusion surrounding the rollout and pounded the administration and its GOP allies in Congress.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-med18.html


Sorting out Medicare confusion
By Marsha King

THE SEATTLE TIMES

Delores Lindsey gets help from Dave Lilly of the Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors. Lindsey, like many others on Medicare, has faced challenges with the government's new prescription-drug plan.

After five years of getting her prescriptions filled for no charge at her local pharmacy in Maple Valley, Estella Easterly, 84, says she recently was told she had to pay full price — or go without.

She couldn't prove that she had enrolled in one of Medicare's new Part D drug plans. Her insurance company hadn't sent her a membership card yet, and it set up her eligibility information improperly in the computer system. So Easterly — who lives on about $600 a month — paid what she could: $24 for a half-month's worth of one of her medications.

"I'm not one that cries very easily," said Easterly, a widow who used to get her drugs paid for by the government because of her low income. "If I can't get it straightened out, I'll just have to do without my medicines. I just can't afford that every month."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002746216_medicare18m.html


Newsday's Family & Relationships column:

Welcome to 2006, when millions of older Americans will be falling down the doughnut hole, searching for new adventures in Medicareland, where things are "curiouser and curiouser."

{snip}

But Gottlich doubts this Congress or President George W. Bush will deal with the fundamental reason for these problems. As correspondent Margaret Warner said recently on PBS' "NewsHour," "There's no standard government-designed plan" administered by Medicare. "Instead, enrollees have to choose from dozens of plans offered by private insurance, with different deductibles, co-pays and lists of authorized drugs."

Some Democrats want to modify the privatization aspects of the law by having at least one standard plan run by Medicare. But that would mean competition for private companies from the more efficient Medicare system, which could use its purchasing power to drive prices down. The Republicans and the drug companies who bought them won't hear of it.

http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-bzsaul4585447jan14,0,5722438.column?coll=ny-news-columnists

via:http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/18/73514/1249

[zbdent]

1. Gee, remember when "single payer health care coverage"

was waayyyyyyyy to complicated for people to understand? (the couple at the coffee table probably looking at a little-needed clause that said something to the effect of "if you cannot afford the absolute minimum rate, and don't make up your mind, then the State will assign a Dr. to you" - which they twisted into "THEY WON'T LET YOU CHOOSE A DOCTOR!")

[orwell]

2. You mean...

...the party that hates "big Gubmint" fucked up a "big Gubmint" program? What are the odds?

For all of you seniors who marched off in lockstep defending God, guns, and "the sanctity of marriage," look in the mirror and put the blame right where it belongs.

You voted for these clowns.

[f-bush]

3. UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on! All major modern nations have it. So should we. When I was 3 mo I contacted a case of encephalitis in Germany. Was in intensive care for a month and hospital for five. My parents total bill came to 17.79 today that would be about 340.00 that's the beauty of a single payer system and yes, I got first rate care!!!!

[NMMNG]

4. You reap what you sow

You vote in bozos who care only about padding their own pockets, and those of the mega-corporations that in turn contribute money back to them, then you can expect to get screwed.


Maybe now people will worry less about what people do in their bedrooms and more about how the Rethugs are screwing everybody.

[salin]

5. Go back to the vote itself... ask... why is this so screwed up?

Because big chunks were written by the industry folks and their lobbyists. Follow the money. This IS the biggest example of the RESULTS of KSTREET, DeLay and the corruption of the GOP.

Mind you - the pain for the GOP on this issue hasn't even begun to kick in. There are millions of folks who had bought supplemental drug plans through their retirement plans - that are being phased out/kicked out and told that their only choice is to get Medicare Plan D - these folks haven't yet enrolled - and thus haven't yet faced all of the problems, including the one of the biggest problems with the plan - signing up (and being stuck for a year) for a plan based on its formulary list (what drugs are covered) only to have that list change on them and suddenly having no coverage for necessary medications. The sheer number of folks likely to hit that wall will make it a nightmare for the GOP.

Our job is to NOW get the goods going back to the passage of the bill - shine light on the GOP money machine = favorable policy (quasi legal bribery) - and forever link in the public psyche the Medicare Drug Plan Disaster with the GOP culture of corruption in DC.