Good Question

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asks this question at today's Senate Energy Policy Forum:

WHITEHOUSE: Gentlemen, we’re in the middle of a near total mortgage system meltdown in this country. We have a health care system that burns 16 percent of our GDP, in which the Medicare liability alone has been estimated at $34 trillion. We’re burning $10 billion a month in Iraq.

This administration has run up $7.7 trillion in national debt, by our calculation. And there is worsening evidence every day of global warming, with worsening environmental and national security ramifications. In light of those conditions, do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the number one issue facing the American people today?

(Long silent pause during which nobody answers.)

WHITEHOUSE: No, it doesn’t seem so.

Now that would make a powerful ad.

Medicare Part (D)isaster: A $3.7 Billion Boondoggle for Pharmaceutical Companies

LATImes:
Medicare Part D a boon for drug companies, House report says
Taxpayers pay up to 30% more for prescriptions under the privately administered program than under Medicaid, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform finds.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. drug manufacturers are reaping a windfall from taxpayers because Medicare's privately administered prescription drug benefit program pays more than other government programs for the same medicines, a House committee charged in a report Thursday.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform found that taxpayers are paying up to 30% more for prescription drugs under Medicare's privatized Part D program for seniors and the disabled than under the government's Medicaid program for the poor.

"Medicare Part D has given the major drug companies a taxpayer-funded windfall worth billions of dollars," said committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills).

[]

In the two years Medicare Part D has been in effect, drug manufacturers have taken in $3.7 billion more than they would have through prices under the Medicaid program, committee investigators found.

"The drug companies are making the same drugs. They are being used by the same beneficiaries. Yet because the drugs are being bought through Medicare Part D instead of Medicaid, the prices paid by the taxpayers have ballooned by billions of dollars," Waxman said.

He said Bristol-Myers made an additional $400 million from higher prices for a single drug, the stroke medication Plavix.

Blogtopia* Roundup, Friday January 12, 2007

Crawford Caligula
Best post title of day: Brilliant at Breakfast:

Potent Military Victories To Make Benefit Glorious Image of the Crawford Caligula

Mmmmm.....Crawford Calugula....must use often.

The Left Coaster reports that Pelosi and Hoyer have sold out seniors by watering down Dem changes to the Medicare Part (D)isaster pharmaceutical bill. Since the bill will be vetoed by Crawford Calugula anyway, I can understand Dems saving their energies for more productive fights.

In case one of those lizard brain Bush supporters tells you the Congress gave Bush the authority to attack Iran, tell 'em they're wrong. The foolish Authorization to Use Military Force in Iraq (AUMF) which all those dummies in Congress voted for, was the second draft of that bill: The first draft was not limited to Iraq, so it was soundly rejected by Congress. Crawford Caligula can't rely on the AUMF to attack Iran, therefore. Not that he cares about Congress. Link is to Dover Bitch, via Digby.

Steve Gilliard says Bush will leave in disgrace.

Glenn Greenwald, outlines Bush's belief that he has the power to attack Iran without Congressional authorization; he doesn't, but he thinks he does. Woe to the world.

Did anyone else hear Condoleeza Rice say 'augmentation, not escalation' yesterday, and think breast implants? Dependable Renegade did.

Greg Sargent eviscerates Tom Friedman, who really needs eviscerating. Is there a bigger waste of column space at the New York Times? Oh, there's David Brooks.

It's all about the corporate Benjamins: IRS closing corporate audits, taking a fraction of the millions US is owed. Expand this ThinkProgress post, 8th item down.

Blogtopia* Roundup, Friday January 5, 2007

On BoingBoing, news that five words slipped into the last Pentagon budget bill will make U.S. military contractors subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Honorary blogger Paul Krugman in today's New York Times says the Democratic Congress should first, un-privatize Medicare.

Professor Juan Cole links to the Diary of Saad Eskander, Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive. How horrible life is really like in Iraq today.

Glenn Greenwald reappears from writing his latest book to eviscerate the un-credible, full of shit right-wing bloggers and their incessant whining about media coverage of Iraq.

ThinkProgress has pictures of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), our first Muslim congressman, being sworn in with his hand on a Koran published in 1764 which was once owned by Thomas Jefferson. I have it on scant authority that these pictures caused several wingnuts' heads to explode.

And, since We Love Lists,
(1)read Steve Gilliard's list of books to read so you don't sound like a stupid warblogger. Check out the recommendations in comments, too.
and
(2) check out World Changing's Ten Stories You May Have Missed by environmental journalist Alex Steffen.

Got to go for my walk, as it's near 60 degrees. Yesterday afternoon when I pulled into my driveway, I startled a bunny munching on the lawn, which is quite green. One of my neighbors planted bulbs yesterday. This is January?

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Insurance Companies Cashing In

Insurance companies got millions of seniors to sign up for Medicare Part (D)isaster coverage last year by making it cheap. Now that they've got 'em, they're going to fleece 'em. Democrats must reform this terrible, terrible bill.

Boston Globe: Insurer hits millions of seniors with drug cost hike
Premium will rise by 130% for Mass. plan

The more than two million senior citizens nationwide who signed up last year for Humana Inc.'s least expensive Medicare prescription drug plan face average premium increases of 60 percent -- and in seven states, increases of 466 percent -- starting tomorrow . The higher prices will affect about 50,000 seniors in Massachusetts, where premiums are going up by 130 percent, from $7.32 to $16.90 a month.

Medicare added the prescription drug benefit in 2006, and in most states dozens of drug plans with varying coverage are available through insurance companies. Healthcare advocates say Humana kept its prices low in 2006 to gain market share. The strategy may prove lucrative, they say, because many seniors spent considerable time researching and selecting their drug insurance and were unlikely to switch plans for 2007, despite increased premiums.

[]

Under Part D, seniors who go without drug coverage will pay higher prices if they eventually decide to buy it. As a result, many seniors who did not need prescription drugs in 2006 signed up with Humana's low-cost plan simply to avoid having to pay more if they needed coverage in the future.

"Some of them took the plan even though they were only taking aspirin," said Nancy Roper , a volunteer for Action for Boston Community Development who counsels low-income seniors on drug plan choices. "Now, this jumps to $16.90 for 2007, and they're calling and asking is it worth it. It's a hardship."

Welcome To The Doughnut Hole

Democrats running for Congress this fall must emphasize, over and over, that the Medicare Part (D)isaster bill was pushed by the Republicans and has been a huge boon for one group: pharmaceutical companies, because the bill BARRED Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices.

WaPo: Bills Soar As Many Hit Gap in Drug Plan
Medicare Provision Jolts Some Seniors

Although the Medicare handbook clearly describes the coverage break, critics say most Medicare recipients, bombarded with advertising from private prescription plans, focused on deductibles and premiums and the drugs included.

"There was a lot of emphasis on signing up seniors. It was a crusade almost," said Stuart Guterman, a Medicare expert with the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund. He doubts that many companies highlighted the doughnut hole in their marketing push. "That's not a selling point," he said.

Previous posts:

Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole Is Here (May 21, 2006)

'Part D is a complex system of subsidies to private insurance companies' (May 15, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Penalties: Will Rethugs Blink? (May 13, 2006)

Bush To Old People: Drop Dead (May 10, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster, Incompetently Administered, Misleading Poor Seniors (May 7, 2006)

Most Severely Ill Senior Citizens Already in Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole (April 27, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Watch Out For That Hole (April 12, 2006)

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors (March 19, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Making the Mentally Ill Sicker (February 6, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Creating Havoc at Social Security Administration (February 4, 2006)

Right Wing Blogs Exhibit Myopia Over Medicare Part D(isaster) (January 24, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster (January 20, 2006)

Operation Photo Op, Medicare Part D edition, 1.0 (January 18, 2006)

'Horrific at Best' (January 9, 2006)

The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism: Sunday, January 8, 2006 (January 8, 2006)

Will Congress Give Paris Hilton A Tax Break?

Congress poised to give her millions
Our economy is in a tailspin, the Iraq war is pouring money into the hands of private contractors and draining the treasury. What do Republicans want? Give the mega-rich another tax cut! Only makes sense if you are rich -- like the Bush Administration members who stand to save millions.

Paul Krugman, NYTimes: Shameless in the Senate

The Senate almost voted to repeal the estate tax last fall, but Republican leaders postponed the vote after Hurricane Katrina. It's easy to see why: the public might have made the connection between scenes of Americans abandoned in the Superdome and scenes of well-heeled senators voting huge tax breaks for their even wealthier campaign contributors.

But memories of Katrina have faded, and they're about to try again. The Senate will probably vote this week. So it's important to realize that there's still a clear connection between tax breaks for the rich and failure to help Americans in need.

Any senator who votes to repeal the estate tax, or votes for a "compromise" that goes most of the way toward repeal, is in effect saying that increasing the wealth of people who are already in line to inherit millions or tens of millions is more important than taking care of fellow citizens who need a helping hand.

[]

Who would benefit from this largess? The estate tax is overwhelmingly a tax on the very, very wealthy; only about one estate in 200 pays any tax at all. The campaign for estate tax repeal has largely been financed by just 18 powerful business dynasties, including the family that owns Wal-Mart.

[]

In the interest of stiffening those spines, let me remind senators that this isn't just a fiscal issue, it's also a moral issue. Congress has already declared that the budget deficit is serious enough to warrant depriving children of health care; how can it now say that it's worth enlarging the deficit to give Paris Hilton a tax break?

Full article: Ed Strong.

Sebastian Mallaby, WaPo: Reward for the Hereditary Elite . . .

It doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. There is no possible excuse for doing what Congress is poised to do this week: Abolish the estate tax.

The federal government faces a future of expanding deficits. Thanks to the baby bust and medical inflation, spending is projected to rise by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2030, a growth equivalent to the doubling of today's Medicare program. What is the dumbest possible response to this? Take a source of revenue and abolish it outright.

fuzzy and blue: EstateTaxRepeal: GOP prays at lucre alter

[] Estate tax repeal would save the estate of Cheney between $13 to $61 million, according to the publicly available data on his net worth. It would save the estate of Rumsfeld between $32 to $101 million. The estate of retired Exxon Mobil chairman Lee Raymond would pocket a cozy $164 million. As for the late Sam Walton's kids, whose company already makes taxpayers foot the bill for the medical expenses of 1000s of its employees, the cost to the govt for not taxing their estates would run into the multiple billions. []

Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole Is Here

Harry DiOrio, KRT
Heart transplant recipient Frank Furfaro, of Patchogue, New York, can no longer afford his life preserving medication since his plan adopted the new Medicare drug benefit.
Every Senator and Congressman who voted for this (D)isaster should have it hung around his neck for the November elections.

Knight-Ridder: Millions face a `doughnut hole' lapse in Medicare coverage

Last year, Frank Furfaro of Patchogue, N.Y. had drug coverage through his Medicare managed-care plan that he felt was adequate. But when his plan adopted the new Medicare-drug benefit, things changed. First, his premiums increased. Then he noticed that the plan covered fewer of the drugs he took.

Furfaro, a disabled heart-transplant patient, found out that he'd hit the doughnut hole last month when he tried to fill a prescription for two immunosuppressant medications. Instead of two $25 co-pays, the pharmacist charged him $661 and $329 for the prescriptions.

"I threw a fit," he said. "What am I supposed to do? I don't have $661 in my pocket." Furfaro said he wasn't told about the doughnut hole when his Medicare HMO changed its coverage in January.

Furfaro, 47, left the pharmacy empty-handed, thinking that without his drugs he was going to die.

"I thought, `That's it. It's over.' The three years I put into the transplant, the waiting and everything. It was a waste of time because I can't get my medicine."

His father helped him purchase the cheaper drug of the two. But Furfaro has gone more than three weeks without the other drug, the one that helped him overcome severe organ rejection after the transplant in 2001. Disabled since 2001 and living off a monthly Social Security Disability Insurance payment of $1,171, he recently took a job as a security guard to earn money for his medications.

He's already feeling weaker and tired. "I lay around a lot. I don't have a lot of energy. I'm short of breath. I don't feel well at all," he said.

If his health deteriorates further, Furfaro said, he'll just get admitted to a hospital and receive his medicine that way, as Medicare will pay all bills if he's hospitalized.

That scenario will be duplicated at hospitals nationwide once more people hit the doughnut hole, said Bob Hayes, the executive director of the Medicare Rights Center, a New York-based advocacy group.

[]

As it stands, the doughnut hole stands is an insurance industry anomaly.

"It's not something we've ever seen in any other insurance product that I'm aware of," said Juliette Cubanski, principal policy analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Previous posts:

'Part D is a complex system of subsidies to private insurance companies' (May 15, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Penalties: Will Rethugs Blink? (May 13, 2006)

Bush To Old People: Drop Dead (May 10, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster, Incompetently Administered, Misleading Poor Seniors (May 7, 2006)

Most Severely Ill Senior Citizens Already in Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole (April 27, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Watch Out For That Hole (April 12, 2006)

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors (March 19, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Making the Mentally Ill Sicker (February 6, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Creating Havoc at Social Security Administration (February 4, 2006)

Right Wing Blogs Exhibit Myopia Over Medicare Part D(isaster) (January 24, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster (January 20, 2006)

Operation Photo Op, Medicare Part D edition, 1.0 (January 18, 2006)

'Horrific at Best' (January 9, 2006)

The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism: Sunday, January 8, 2006 (January 8, 2006)

'Part D is a complex system of subsidies to private insurance companies'

You say (d)ebacle, I say (d)isaster; let's call the whole thing off.

Krugman, NYTimes: D for Debacle (Like Bush will tell us tonight about Mexico, NYTimes has National Guard patrolling to keep Krugman behind his wall)

Today is the last day to sign up for Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit. It appears that millions of Americans, confused by the array of competing plans or simply unaware of the cutoff date, will miss the deadline. This will leave them without drug coverage for the rest of the year, and subject to financial penalties for the rest of their lives.

[]

[P]rescription drug coverage didn't have to be bafflingly complex. Drug coverage could simply have been added to traditional Medicare. If the government had done that, everyone currently covered by Medicare would automatically have been enrolled in the drug benefit.

Adding drug coverage as part of ordinary Medicare would also have saved a lot of money, both by eliminating the cost of employing private insurance companies as middlemen and by allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices. This would have made it possible to offer a better benefit at much less cost to taxpayers.

But while a straightforward addition of drug coverage to Medicare would have been good policy, it would have been bad politics from the point of view of conservatives, who want to privatize traditional social insurance programs, not make them better.

[]

So what we got was a drug program set up to serve the administration's friends and its political agenda, not the alleged beneficiaries. Instead of providing drug coverage directly, Part D is a complex system of subsidies to private insurance companies. The administration's insistence on running the program through these companies, which provide little if any additional value beyond what Medicare could easily have provided directly, is what makes the whole thing so complicated. And that complication, combined with an obvious lack of interest in making the system work, is what led to the disastrous start-up.

[]

And that's why when it comes to actual policy as opposed to politics, the Bush administration has turned out to have the reverse Midas touch. Everything it gets its hands on, from the reconstruction of Iraq to the rescue of New Orleans, from the drug benefit to the reform of the C.I.A., turns to crud.

Ed Strong has the full article.

Previous posts:

Medicare Part (D)isaster Penalties: Will Rethugs Blink? (May 13, 2006)

Bush To Old People: Drop Dead (May 10, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster, Incompetently Administered, Misleading Poor Seniors (May 7, 2006)

Most Severely Ill Senior Citizens Already in Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole (April 27, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Watch Out For That Hole (April 12, 2006)

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors (March 19, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Making the Mentally Ill Sicker (February 6, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Creating Havoc at Social Security Administration (February 4, 2006)

Right Wing Blogs Exhibit Myopia Over Medicare Part D(isaster) (January 24, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster (January 20, 2006)

Operation Photo Op, Medicare Part D edition, 1.0 (January 18, 2006)

'Horrific at Best' (January 9, 2006)

The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism: Sunday, January 8, 2006 (January 8, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Penalties: Will Rethugs Blink?

Monday, May 15 is the deadline for seniors to sign up for the Medicare Part (D)isaster prescription drug plan. If you don't sign up by Monday, no matter what your circumstances, you face a lifetime of escalating penalties for missing the deadline. Read the last paragraph of today's WaPo article: they have already waived the deadlines and penalties for the poorest seniors. I wonder if all this Bush blather about enforcing the deadline was just a bait-and-switch to get seniors signed up (to the benefit of the real beneficiaries of the plan, the pharmaceutical companies) and then give his Rethug supporters the chance to look good by doing the right thing on May 15th?

WaPo: GOP Wavers On Penalties In Medicare Drug Plan

As older Americans face a nationwide deadline Monday to sign up for Medicare prescription drug coverage, key Republicans are examining ways to remove or reduce financial penalties the Bush administration plans to charge people who try to join the program after the enrollment cutoff, according to lawmakers and legislative aides.

GOP lawmakers are reluctant to talk openly of their plans before midnight on May 15, for fear of counteracting a cheerleading blitz that President Bush and his top health advisers have undertaken to spur a last-minute surge in enrollment.


Still, motivated by Republicans' concerns about their prospects in the fall elections and by persistent confusion about the new drug benefit, several of Congress's architects of the program have concluded that it would be unwise to punish people who miss the deadline. The rethinking of the penalties, by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), House Ways and Means health subcommittee Chairman Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.), and others, marks the first time Republicans have broken with the White House over the program.

[]

The financial penalties are an attempt to motivate relatively healthy Medicare patients to sign up right away, rather than waiting until their health falters and they need more prescription drugs. The late fee, based on 1 percent of the national average price of the insurance premiums for the drug coverage, starts out relatively small. It starts at an extra $1.98 per month if they sign up later this year, but it mushrooms the longer people wait to get coverage.

[]

Of the 6 million people who still lack drug coverage based on the administration figures, a disproportionately large share -- about 3.2 million -- have relatively low incomes. CMS announced a few days ago that it would eliminate deadlines and penalties for that group.

Previous posts:

Bush To Old People: Drop Dead (May 10, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster, Incompetently Administered, Misleading Poor Seniors (May 7, 2006)

Most Severely Ill Senior Citizens Already in Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole (April 27, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Watch Out For That Hole (April 12, 2006)

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors (March 19, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Making the Mentally Ill Sicker (February 6, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Creating Havoc at Social Security Administration (February 4, 2006)

Right Wing Blogs Exhibit Myopia Over Medicare Part D(isaster) (January 24, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster (January 20, 2006)

Operation Photo Op, Medicare Part D edition, 1.0 (January 18, 2006)

'Horrific at Best' (January 9, 2006)

The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism: Sunday, January 8, 2006 (January 8, 2006)

Bush To Old People: Drop Dead

I thought this article deserved a New York Post-style headline:

Bush Backs Monday Deadline For Seniors
Millions Have Not Sought Drug Benefit

President Bush insisted yesterday that the May 15 deadline for picking a Medicare prescription drug plan will stand, even as key Republican lawmakers suggested they may take action retroactively to protect people who miss the Monday cutoff.

Speaking yesterday at a retirement community in Sun City Center, Fla., Bush urged eligible seniors to act quickly. "Deadlines are important," he said. "Deadlines help people understand there's finality, and people need to get after it, you know?"

"Deadlines are important," he said. "Deadlines help people understand there's finality, and people need to get after it, you know?"

Translation: I just don't give a shit about anybody but myself. What's their problem? Whatever. Where's mah bike?

Medicare Part (D)isaster, Incompetently Administered, Misleading Poor Seniors

GAO called Medicare operators 500 times and got wrong information much of the time. For example, 59% of callers who asked, what is the most appropriate and least expensive plan for me, were given the wrong plan. The GAO found the government's own website so confusing that seniors just gave up on it.

The best part? Medicare KNEW the GAO was calling them to test their operators, but Medicare operators still gave out incorrect information. How bad would it have been if the calls had been completely random and Medicare hadn't been alerted?

WaPo: Study Finds Medicare Operators Often Give Bad Information

With less than two weeks remaining for seniors to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, an independent review has found that Medicare's telephone operators frequently give callers false or incomplete information, reviving calls by Democrats to extend the May 15 deadline.

The report released yesterday also found that Medicare's written promotional materials used too much technical jargon, that call waiting times lasted from a few minutes to almost an hour, and the government Web site was so confusing that some people gave up before completing the process.

Posing as seniors or individuals helping a senior, investigators for the Government Accountability Office placed 500 calls to 1-800-MEDICARE and found that about one-third resulted in faulty information or none at all.

The quality of service varied widely. On a question relating to which seniors qualified for discounted plans, customer service representatives gave correct information 90 percent of the time.

When asked which drug plans were most appropriate and least expensive for an individual, however, the accuracy rate fell to 41 percent. Often, Medicare representatives incorrectly told callers they required personal data such as a Social Security number. In fact, they can provide general information but would be able to give more sophisticated guidance with the personal data.

[]

"Because of inaccurate or incomprehensible information, seniors haven't been given a fair shake," said Michigan Rep. John D. Dingell, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Seniors can't make good choices if they can't get good information. And these problems confirm that this privatized prescription drug plan is inherently too complicated."

Medicare chief Mark B. McClellan defended the program in an appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday.

Although the 7,500 customer service representatives did not know which callers were from the GAO, the administration was alerted to the investigation, said Leslie Aronovitz, director of the division responsible for the report. In addition, when Medicare operators initially gave an inaccurate answer, GAO investigators "bent over backwards to try to give them as much leeway as we could," she said.

Bush to Cut Social Security Disability Benefits to Give Taxcuts to Billionaires

From The New Standard, via truthout.org:

Feds Could "Gut" Social Security Disability Rolls

The Social Security Administration (SSA) rule-change proposal, published in the Federal Register last November, would make several different categories of people qualifying for disability benefits wait two more years for payments to start. Because Medicare and Medicaid eligibility are based on Social Security qualifications, individuals would have to postpone receipt of those healthcare benefits too.

[]

The agency also estimated that the rule change would save the federal government $5.8 billion dollars over the next ten years, leading some groups to believe the motivation behind the rule change is monetary. In its public comments to the SSA, Philadelphia's Community Legal Services, an organization providing representation to low-income people, accused the agency of trying to save federal spending "by defining disability in an even more restrictive manner than currently."

$5.8 billion dollars is less than 10% of the $71.6 billion dollars the Bush Administration wants to give the 18 richest families in America by eliminating the estate tax. More draconian social service cuts to come, most like these in the dead of night, by regulation or something slipped into an omnibus bill.

I saw this at Suburban Guerrilla.

Most Severely Ill Senior Citizens Already in Medicare Part (D)isaster Doughnut Hole

We are putting our most severely ill senior citizens, who have already reached the Medicare Part (D)isaster prescription drug doughnut hole, through hell. The plan only covers you until you have been provided $2,250 in drugs. Then it pays nothing, not one thin dime, from dollar $2,251 to dollar $5,100 -- leaving the seniors to pay that $2,849 from their already meager incomes. The $2,849 gap has come to be known as the doughnut hole. For poor, ill seniors, it's more like the train tunnel where the light coming at you is the train.

Drug companies, taking full advantage, have dropped programs that used to provide poor seniors with free drugs. So the severely ill seniors are looking at months where they either pay for their drugs themselves, making it impossible for them to pay for the necessities of daily living; or worse, they go without the lifesaving drugs they need. While Bush is out there pushing tax cuts for billionaires, these poor folks are just trying to stay alive.

I can't even imagine the mental stress these poor people are going through, dealing with a serious illness and then dealing with financial pressures like this:

WaPo: Disabled, Seniors Confront Medicare Hole

WASHINGTON -- Mildred Lindley is stuck in a hole, the doughnut hole "right in the middle of it," she says that comes with Medicare's new prescription drug benefit.

Just four months into the program, Lindley has hit the point in her coverage where she has to pick up, at least for a few months, the full cost of the medication she takes to keep her bone marrow cancer in remission. As a result, her two-month supply of Thalomid shot up from $40 to a whopping $1,300.

"If I can't get it, I guess I'm here until the Lord takes me out. That's all I can do, because there's no way I can afford it," said Lindley, an 80-year-old from Jonesboro, Ark.

"I'm in the hole all right."

[]

[T]here are beneficiaries who are convinced they will be worse off, many of whom had relied on free medicine provided by the drug manufacturers. They were told by the manufacturers this year that the free supplies would stop now that they were eligible for Medicare coverage.

Victoria D'Angelo of Denver relied on the patient assistance programs for many of her prescription needs last year. She enrolled in a Medicare drug plan when told by one of those companies that such help would end Jan. 1.

Now, that she's hit the doughnut hole, she's charging some of her drugs to her credit card. She said she'll worry about the ramifications later since she cannot afford to skip taking her Seroquel, which is used to control bipolar disorder.

"Basically, I've been to hell and back on this," said D'Angelo, referring to her disease. "I'm just deathly afraid of getting sick again."

[]

Shirley Rhodes of Gladwin, Mich., figures that while she and her husband, Samuel, are in the doughnut hole, they'll have about $49.67 a month to live on after covering their drug expenses.

For that reason, they will wait until the last possible day to enroll in a Medicare drug plan. In the meantime, she'll continue to ask the pharmaceutical companies to help her out, and she'll work with Social Security officials to figure out how the family might qualify for extra assistance through Medicare.

"If we don't qualify, we will be giving our house back to the mortgage company, and then we'll still owe for the second and third mortgage," Rhodes said.

[]

Lawmakers are also pleading with drug manufacturers to continue with patient assistance programs that allowed many low-income people to get free medicine.

"We've got a situation where it looks like the May 15 date has become an excuse for dropping the assistance that many Medicare beneficiaries rely on, and that's not right," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Previous posts: Medicare Part (D)isaster: Watch Out For That Hole (April 12, 2006)

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors (March 19, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Making the Mentally Ill Sicker (February 6, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster Creating Havoc at Social Security Administration (February 4, 2006)

Right Wing Blogs Exhibit Myopia Over Medicare Part D(isaster) (January 24, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster (January 20, 2006)

Operation Photo Op, Medicare Part D edition, 1.0 (January 18, 2006)

'Horrific at Best' (January 9, 2006)

The Incompetence, The Corruption, and The Cronyism: Sunday, January 8, 2006 (January 8, 2006)

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Watch Out For That Hole

I read an article in the local paper, the Metrowest News, yesterday, about the Medicare Part (D) plan and the seniors who have found it helpful. Knowing as I do that the plan pays benefits up to $2,250 and then pays NOTHING from dollar $2,251 to dollar $5,100 -- leaving the seniors to cover that $2,849 by themselves, out of their social security and hopefully pensions and savings, I looked for that fact in the article. It's not mentioned in the AP article. It's become known as the 'doughnut hole'. $2,849 is a lot of money; you'd think a reporter would find that significant. Not always.

Metrowest News: Enrollment report
By Kevin Freking/ Associated Press
Tuesday, April 11, 2006

The Washington Post covers the Medicare Part (D)isaster drug benefit on its front page today, and likewise does not mention the doughnut hole.

Most Seniors Enrolled Say Drug Benefit Saves Money

The Christian Science Monitor covers the story more honestly:

Confusion remains as drug-plan deadline nears
In order to maximize savings, some seniors must sign up - and choose from dozens of different insurance plans - by May 15.

People may like their plan now, but [there is] a "doughnut hole" in the coverage. After a participant and his plan provider combine to spend $2,250 on drugs in a given year, the provider doesn't pay anything again until $5,100 has been spent. A Heritage Foundation study predicts that many participants will hit this "doughnut hole" next fall - and perhaps change their minds about the plan - just in time to vote in congressional elections.

I *Heart* Will Durst

I saw Will Durst in a comedy club in Cambridge during the administration of Bush-my-son-makes-me-look-smart, back in the 80s. I laughed so hard and so loud that he kept looking over at me, like, who is that loon?

He's still at it, and he's still got it.

Impeachment? Hell, no. Impalement.

I don't know about you guys, but I am so sick and tired of these lying, thieving, holier-than-thou, right-wing, cruel, crude, rude, gauche, coarse, crass, cocky, corrupt, dishonest, debauched, degenerate, dissolute, swaggering, lawyer shooting, bullhorn shouting, infrastructure destroying, hysterical, history defying, finger-pointing, puppy stomping, roommate appointing, pretzel choking, collateral damaging, aspersion casting, wedding party bombing, clear cutting, torturing, jobs outsourcing, torture outsourcing, "so-called" compassionate-conservative, women's rights eradicating, Medicare cutting, uncouth, spiteful, boorish, vengeful, noxious, homophobic, xenophobic, xylophonic, racist, sexist, ageist, fascist, cashist, audaciously stupid, brazenly selfish, lethally ignorant, journalist purchasing, genocide ignoring, corporation kissing, poverty inducing, crooked, coercive, autocratic, primitive, uppity, high-handed, domineering, arrogant, inhuman, inhumane, insolent, know-it-all, snotty, pompous, contemptuous, supercilious, gutless, spineless, shameless, avaricious, poisonous, imperious, merciless, graceless, tactless, brutish, brutal, Karl Roving, backward thinking, persistent vegetative state grandstanding, nuclear option threatening, evolution denying, irony deprived, depraved, insincere, conceited, perverted, pre-emptory invading of a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 911, 35 day vacation taking, bribe soliciting, incapable, inbred, hellish, proud for no apparent reason, smarty pants, loudmouth, bullying, swell headed, ethnic cleansing, ethics eluding, domestic spying, medical marijuana busting, kick backing, Halliburtoning, New Deal disintegrating, narcissistic, undiplomatic, blustering, malevolent, demonizing, baby seal clubbing, Duke Cunninghamming, hectoring, verbally flatulent, pro-bad- anti-good, Moslem baiting, photo-op arranging, hurricane disregarding, oil company hugging, judge packing, science disputing, faith based mathematics advocating, armament selling, nonsense spewing, education ravaging, whiny, unscrupulous, greedy exponential factor fifteen, fraudulent, CIA outing, redistricting, anybody who disagrees with them slandering, fact twisting, ally alienating, betraying, god and flag waving, scare mongering, Cindy Sheehan libeling, phony question asking, just won't get off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling, two-faced, inept, callous, menacing, your hand under a rock-the maggoty remains of a marsupial, oppressive, vulgar, antagonistic, brush clearing suck-up, showboating, tyrannizing, peace hating, water and air and ground and media polluting which is pretty much all the polluting you can get, deadly, illegal, pernicious, lethal, haughty, venomous, virulent, ineffectual, mephitic, egotistic, bloodthirsty, incompetent, hypocritical, did I say evil, I'm not sure if I said evil, because I want to make sure I say evil...EVIL, cretinous, fool, toad, buttwipe, lizardstick, cowardly, lackey imperialistic tool slime buckets in the Bush Administration that I could just spit. Impeachment, hell no. Impalement. Upon the sharp and righteous sword of the people's justice.

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors

The Smirking Chimp: President Out-Of-Touch: When choosing a Medicare plan, it helps to kick the tires

This is so good I'm taking the liberty of reproducing it in its entirety. President Dumbass at his worst:

Sometimes you can't even win with hand-picked supporters. Here is President Out-Of-Touch Moron explaining Medicare pricing to senior citizens in Maryland on March 15:

This guy has got a great question because really what he's talking about is transparency in pricing. When you go buy a car, you know exactly what they're going to charge you.

Uh oh. The audience responds with spontaneous, derisive laughter.

Well, sometimes you don't know.

More laughter.

Well, you negotiate with them.

Nice going, Monkey Boy. Dig yourself in deeper. More laughter from the audience.

Well, they put something on the window that says price.

Another volley of laughter.

Boy, you can smell the smoke all the way over here as POTUS-brain synapses strain to find one another. Think hard, man -- what did it say on Karl's flash-cards?

His point is, is that the more you know about price, the better you can make better decisions, and I appreciate that.

It's here that Bush's finely-honed fight-or-flight instincts kick in:

Listen, you're paying me a lot of money to work, and so I think I'm going to have to head back home. But I'm honored. Got any more questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

Run away! Run away!

Medicare Part (D)isaster: Making the Mentally Ill Sicker

Today's WaPo:

Stability of Mentally Ill Shaken By Medicare Drug Plan Problems
Some Prescription Denials Have Heightened Distress

Since the prescription program made its debut Jan. 1, some of the estimated 2 million mentally ill Americans covered because they receive both Medicare and Medicaid have gone without the drugs that keep their delusions, paranoia, anxieties or stress in check. Mental health service providers and advocacy organizations nationwide say they worry that scores are at high risk of relapse. Numerous people have been hospitalized.

San Antonio Express, last week:

Medicare glitches are hurting the mentally ill

As the days and nights passed, Floyd Spears watched with dread as the pale yellow pills in the medicine bottle dwindled.

When they were gone, the voices began.

They tormented him, insisting he lash out. He'd pound his fist against his forehead, screaming aloud at them to stop.

In nine years, Spears, 42, never missed a day of work as chief of a local janitorial crew. But since his pills ran out and couldn't be refilled amid the chaos of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, he's been at home struggling to control his moods and his life.

Spears, who has paranoid schizophrenia, is one of many people with mental illnesses falling through the cracks as the new federal program continues to suffer major technological and administrative glitches.

The American Psychiatric Association reports increased patient relapses and emergency hospitalizations. Local doctors, pharmacies and caseworkers are grappling with how to get patients the medications they desperately need.

[]

Since the new program began, many patients have left drugstores empty-handed because government databases didn't have their information. Health plans' help lines have been jammed. Pharmacists don't know which drugs were covered under which plans.

The fiasco has put the already-vulnerable population of those with mental illnesses at particular risk, said Lupe Morin, past president of the San Antonio chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

"Many of these people are having delusions and just struggling to stay somewhat stable every day," she said. "They're not going to pay close attention to all the letters and literature sent to them about this complicated program. Then they sit on the phone all day on hold trying to get answers about policies they don't even understand."

Medicare Part (D)isaster Creating Havoc at Social Security Administration

From rawstory.com:

Internal e-mails indicate extreme unrest at Social Security

After receiving an internal e-mail indicating an extreme state of unrest at the Social Security Administration, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has written Speaker Hastert regarding the situation.

Currently, nearly 50 million Americans rely on Social Security.

Waxman claims that other internal documents indicate a "hemorrhaging" at Social Security call centers, and a flood of inaccurate information to seniors regarding the prescription drug plan.

Attached to Waxman's letter was, in its entirety, a message sent from Deputy Commissioner of Operations Linda McMahon to all Social Security Administration Operations employees. The document paints a very dire picture of conditions at the agency.

'Bush the Incompetent'

Harold Meyerson in today's Washington Post:

Bush the Incompetent

Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it's hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush. But it is this president's defining attribute. Historians, looking back at the hash that his administration has made of his war in Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina and his Medicare drug plan, will have to grapple with how one president could so cosmically botch so many big things -- particularly when most of them were the president's own initiatives.

[]

How could a president get these things so wrong? Incompetence may describe this presidency, but it doesn't explain it. For that, historians may need to turn to the seven deadly sins: to greed, in understanding why Bush entrusted his new drug entitlement to a financial mainstay of modern Republicanism. To sloth, in understanding why Incurious George has repeatedly ignored the work of experts whose advice runs counter to his desires.

He omits 9/11, Bush's other great incompetent feat, when he ignored the advice of experts who advised: Bin Laden determined to strike in US