Most People Bush Claims To Have Medicare Drug Benefit Already Had Coverage

[bigtree]

19 Feb 2006 - 14:00pm (UK)

{snips}

An analysis of the Medicare drug benefit enrollment numbers being touted by the Bush Administration reveals that only 3.2 million older and disabled Americans have drug coverage for the first time.

The Bush Administration reports that 24 million people have the Medicare drug benefit, but the consumer group's analysis shows that only 14.3 have it. About 10 million people reported to have Part D coverage actually have retiree health benefits from their former employer or union.

Most people with the drug benefit known as “Part D” were auto-enrolled because they have both Medicaid and Medicare (6.2 million), or were in a Medicare private health plan (4.5 million), from which they got some drug coverage.

Of the 3.6 million people who reportedly “voluntarily” enrolled in a stand-alone private drug plan, about 330,000 were enrolled through their state pharmaceutical assistance program and another 78,000 are covered by employers who transformed their employer coverage to a Part D plan.

full report: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=38003

[EST]

1. Yep, as has been pointed out so often, they are liars of the

first order. No reason for them to stop, now.

[tecelote]

2. Repeat it often enough and the sheep will believe anything.

[FloridaPat]

3. They also paid companies million not to drop their coverage.

More free money care of the US tax payers.

[bigtree]

4. do you have that story Pat?

I'd like to see the report.

[FloridaPat]

5. Let me see if I can find it. It was a couple of weeks ago. It was

unbelievable.

[FloridaPat]

6. Here's one link from last year.

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/002144.php


An article in Wednsday�s New York Times Medicare Law Is Seen Leading to Cuts in Drug Benefits for Retirees has brought my attention back to the Bush Administration�s attack on Medicare.

New government estimates suggest that employers will reduce or eliminate prescription drug benefits for 3.8 million retirees when Medicare offers such coverage in 2006.

That represents one-third of all the retirees with employer-sponsored drug coverage, according to documents from the Department of Health and Human Services

As part of the prescription-drug benefits for Medicare passed last year, the government would pay employers to retain drug benefits for their retirees. However, the benefit provided by the company only had to be worth as much as the Medicare benefit and the Government determined whether it met that requirement. In addition, there was nothing to stop the companies from transferring more of the costs to the retirees. So a company could shift more of the cost to the retiree and still get the subsidy, in essence benefiting twice. The lobby group for this was Employers Coalition on Medicare. The donations of the member companies to the Bush campaign and/or RNC has been documented by Centers for American Progress

Let's review the Medicare Drug card ploy by the Bush administration. Again the Centers for American Progress in: Paying to Play were on top of this issue. Here are the lowlights. A total of 73 companies were chosen to handle drug cards, of those 20 (almost 1/3) have been involved in fraud charges. Those 20 companies gave 60% of the $5 million dollars contributed by this group to the Republican Party. For extensive details see the article.

[bigtree]

9. This is good. Thanks. The Employers Coalition on Medicare is interesting

Chairman Ed Kaleta used to be with Caterpillar, went to Humana Inc, another lobby group. He started the Employers Coalition on Medicare while at Caterpillar.

Humana was originally linked to Abramoff in a WaPo article, then they printed a retraction: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32633-2004Nov7?language=printer

from WaPo:

"In a Nov. 8 article, the Business Roundtable and Humana were incorrectly described as clients of Jack Abramoff, former lobbyist for the firm of Greenberg Traurig LLP, in 2003. The firms are clients of Greenberg Traurig."


but this is from the Center for Media and Democracy:

Nancy E. Taylor is a shareholder in the Washington, DC, office of the law firm of Greenberg Traurig (Abramoff's former lobbying firm). (http://www.gtlaw.com/biographies/biography.asp?id=1170)

In December 2003, Taylor was the registered lobbyist contact for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council. (http://cspan.politicalmoneyline.com/cgi-win/x_bna_lookup.exe?12/9/2003)

On the "Drug Industry & HMO Lobbyists with Revolving Door Connections" for 2003, Taylor's firm was Greenberg Traurig and her revolving door connection was Humana. http://www.badfaithinsurance.org/reference/HL/0100d.pdf


Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council and Abramoff

(01-29) 09:23 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --

A California congressman who accepted campaign cash from disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and used his sports box for a fundraiser interceded on behalf of two American Indian tribes that were represented by Abramoff's firm, documents show.

GOP Rep. John Doolittle wrote Interior Secretary Gale Norton in June 2003 criticizing the Bush administration's response to a tribal government dispute involving the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. In October 2003, Doolittle appealed in a letter to the secretary for quicker action for a Massachusetts tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag, that was seeking federal recognition.

Both tribes signed on with Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, that year. Sac & Fox hired the firm in May, the Wampanoags in November. Neither tribe appears tied to Doolittle's rural Northern California district, and Doolittle is not on the House committee that handles Indian issues.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/01/29/national/w092309S59.DTL&type=printable

[FloridaPat]

7. * destroyed company penison drug plans with this it looks like.

http://www.kff.org/medicare/med120705nr.cfm


"WASHINGTON – Four in five businesses (79%) that now provide retiree health benefits will accept government subsidies for continuing to provide retiree drug coverage at least as good as Medicare’s coverage when the new drug benefit starts in 2006, according to a new survey of 300 of the nation’s largest private-sector employers conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates.

Another 10% say that they will provide some drug coverage to supplement the new Medicare benefit, and 9% say that they plan to stop offering drug coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees."

[WinkyDink]

8. My husband is one who did not.

Former employer (school district) does not offer any health insurance, not even "buy-in", to Medicare-age retirees.

[sandnsea]

10. Moving Medicaid disabled to full Medicare

For those who wondered why any Dem would vote for this, that's why. "Medicare for All"??? Well you have to start getting the "all" on to Medicare somehow. This was one way to get the disabled OFF Medicaid, where they didn't belong anyway, and onto FULL Medicare. The medical care the disabled get shouldn't be dependent on which state they live in. That was the thinking of my own Senator Wyden, and probably Feistein too.

That said, the bill is still a disaster and they should have rejected it and demanded a real solution for seniors and the disabled.