Pharmacists Say Medicare Drug Plan Threatens Their Incomes (meet w/ Rove)

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Pharmacists Say Drug Plan Threatens Their Incomes
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: March 13, 2006


WASHINGTON, March 12 — Pharmacists say they have been losing money under Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, and they have taken their concerns to the White House, forcing the administration to confront political problems caused by the rocky start of the program.

In a meeting last week with Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, the druggists said many independent pharmacies might have to shut their doors because they were not being paid adequately or promptly under Medicare. In the last two months, they said, pharmacists have given away millions of dollars' worth of medications for which Medicare drug plans should have paid.

The pharmacists who visited the White House were all from Texas. Several have close ties to Mr. Rove and President Bush. But their concerns are shared by retail pharmacists across the country, who said that Medicare drug plans were paying them less than it cost to fill prescriptions for the beneficiaries.

Bill C. Pittman, a former president of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy who is chairman of Pharmacists for Bush, a political fund-raising group, arranged the meeting, held on Monday at the White House.

Richard E. Beck, one of the Texas pharmacists who met with Mr. Rove, said, "Pharmacies are losing money on Medicare." Slow payment by Medicare drug plans has caused cash-flow problems for many pharmacies, he said....


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/politics/13medicare.html?hp&ex=1142312400&en=3362511034c1a77b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Trillo]

1. Jobs about to be offshored, eh?

Well, can't have that, not for the esteemed "professional class". snort.

[Why Syzygy]

4. Didn't the powers that be

put up a big ruckus about getting pharms from Canada? Well. Now what. Can't get them here in George Bush's third world. So guess what. People will do what people have to do. I hate him.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. I'm just a little more upset that it affects my Grandma's income...

but if they want to jump over to our side, I won't complain. :)

[atreides1]

17. They Are Not on Our Side

They are complaining because they aren't getting their money, if they were getting paid in a timely manner they wouldn't be bitching.

So don't mistake this for the pharmacists changing sides, see it for what it is, a greedy bunch of Bush suppoters who want their money for not raising their voices when this started!!!!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

18. okay, let me rephrase...

If they want to bitch at the shrub for it, more power to them!

[Rainscents]

3. Well, well, well...

First, credit companies are complainning about there lost and now, we have pharmacists.

[anitar1]

23. Stupid thought they were protected. didn't they realize

they were just part of the shrinking middle class?They deserve it!

[Dunvegan]

5. Unfortunately our ill, undermedicated elders couldn't make the meeting

...they were too ill from lack of proper medicine due to the draconian Med-I-Don't-Care-About-the-Elderly bill.

[global1]

6. How Much Did Chain Drugstores Contribute To *Co........

if one could answer that one - it might indicate that independent pharmacies are going the way of the dinosaur.

[depakid]

7. Guess they should have thought of that

before the bill passed....

"Most independent community pharmacists are small-business Republicans," the report said. "Pharmacists want to be supportive of this administration, and they can play an active role in the midterm elections."

Sow what you reap. Enjoy the bankruptcy bill, too- while you're at it.

[radfringe]

8. distraught

In an e-mail message to Mr. Rove on Feb. 13, Mr. Beck wrote, "I have been a loyal Republican for a long time." But he said pharmacists were "distraught that a Republican president would attack our profession."


ummm...Mr. Beck - that's because drug COMPANIES, not drug STORES wrote the legislation and the bushies do not give a rat's ass about YOUR stores nor Americans who would shop there (if they could afford it)

[rucky]

9. Another satisfied customer.

"Pharmacists for Bush"...and they didn't expect to get screwed when they supported the plan?

[jbnow]

10. Drug stores were screwed

Their margin had been cut from 6% that they get on others to 4% and as this says:

In February 2005, Mr. Bush proposed significant cuts in Medicaid payments to pharmacies. Many of those cuts were included in a deficit reduction bill that he signed into law last month. In his 2007 budget, he proposed further cuts.

Critics called the cuts immoral. Mr. Bush replied, "It's not immoral to make sure that prescription drug pharmacists don't overcharge the system." His comment, in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 8 this year, infuriated many pharmacists

Some have gone without payment at all. This indicates some might have to close, but some already have closed as I've read in previous articles. Some have had to quit taking Plan D. They can't afford it.

They use to get money from insurance within a week and now some have gone months without it. Why? The drugstore and insurance companies were already working together through other programs, it's not a new relationship. Where is the money? The seniors have been getting their money taken for their premiums. Has the government not given it to the insurance companies or are the insurance companies not getting it to the drugstores?

It was bad enough when there was confusion over who was covered and that was horrible. But what is the broken link in this part?

OK so some are/were republicans but they are the pharmacies that have been taking care of our parents and grandparents for a long time and people might lose the ones they depend on. They are getting screwed too by this inept administration too.

This is a money maker for drug companies and insurance companies. Patients, taxpayers and stores are being screwed.
Medicaid screws drugstores some but they at least get paid and in that case the drug prices have been negotiated down. That's not allowed by Plan D. We pay full prices for D and they are screwing us even more.

[salin]

11. The problems are only going to get worse in the run up to the

May deadline for signing up.

[shrike]

12. Is there anything he (Bush) can't f*ck up?

No!

[DamnYank]

13. Isn't that part of the plan?

Force independent pharmacies out of business to eliminate competition for large chain pharmacies...like Wal-Mart?

[customerserviceguy]

14. Perhaps

but aren't pharmacies a bit 19th Century, anyway? Having a big storefront where people count pills from the big bottle into the little bottle is kind of inefficient, in my view. Yeah, yeah, they look out for drug interactions, but they do it with computers that your doctor should be able to use just as well when writing that 'script. Especially when we're talking about maintenance doses of the same drugs over and over, there's no reason to have a pharmacist handling those every month. Some machine in backwoods America can count pills into a bottle and ship off a three month supply at much less cost.

[lumpy]

15. I haven't known many doctors in

my lifetime who know beans about pharmaceudicals, much more than how to operate a computer. I have and know people who have had prescription screw-ups from chain stores, some who do hire unqualified dispensers of medications. No problem getting answers from my local pharmacist regarding prescription and nonprescription medications. The idea that pharmacists rely on computers for drug info is ridiculous. The educational background required to become a pharmicist is intensive and in depth.

[bmbmd]

21. Baloney.

At least I know how to spell "pharmaceuticals" and "pharmacist". This new generation of pharmacists (excuse me-"Pharm-D"s) are the single most misanthropic class of "professionals" I deal with in my day to day operations. My theory is that that "C" they made in organic chemistry soured them on the medical profession just as it torpedoed their chances for entering med school. Hence, these "doctors" tend to be argumentative, obsessive compulsive, and obstructionist. You may think they are your ally, but I promise you they are driving up the cost and driving down the productivity of the health care profession. There is a place for pharm-d's, but it is not in dictating patient care, prescribing medicines, or making clinical decisions.

[CAG]

25. Thanks for generalizing there.... I know some pretty misanthropic docs

myself... I guess they all are then. I guess all those physician organizations sending lobbyist after lobbyist to congress crying and whining about reimbursement for physicians are soooo much better than the pharmacists who actually want their independent pharmacy to pull a 4% profit margin.

Your "theory" is wrong, though. I never wanted to go to med school. Someone thirty years ago decided to call this new degree (which is about the same as a Masters level) a Pharm.D., so excuse me, I didn't pick it, it was just somebody with a massive ego who wanted "Doctor" in front of their name, I guess.

"Hence, these "doctors" tend to be argumentative, obsessive compulsive, and obstructionist"

Holy cow. Get a grip. I hope you don't generalize your patients this way.

"You may think they are your ally, but I promise you they are driving up the cost and driving down the productivity of the health care profession"

No, I promise you, we're BOTH their ally, we BOTH should be trying to improve the patients lives and quit quarrelling between each other like a couple of 4th grade bedwetters.

[bmbmd]

27. Don't think I was generalizing.

I think I'm talking about the people I work with "on a day to day basis". They insist on being called "Doctor", while I insist upon being called "Bill". If anyone is generalizing, it is Lumpy who unequivocally states that doctors don't know anything at all about "pharmaceudicals" (sic) and can't operate computers.

So-how was organic, anyway?

[progressivebydesign]

16. boo-fucking hoo.. everyone has their hand out. n/t

[winston61]

19. What's the matter, bitches,

are your chickens coming home to roost?

[Career Prole]

20. LOL!! That Rove is some kind o' f'ing hypnotist, I tells ya!

Did you catch this?

In February 2005, Mr. Bush proposed significant cuts in Medicaid payments to pharmacies. Many of those cuts were included in a deficit reduction bill that he signed into law last month. In his 2007 budget, he proposed further cuts.

Critics called the cuts immoral. Mr. Bush replied, "It's not immoral to make sure that prescription drug pharmacists don't overcharge the system." His comment, in Manchester, N.H., on Feb. 8 this year, infuriated many pharmacists because it seemed to suggest that they were cheating the government.

In an e-mail message to Mr. Rove on Feb. 13, Mr. Beck wrote, "I have been a loyal Republican for a long time." But he said pharmacists were "distraught that a Republican president would attack our profession."

In an e-mail response, Mr. Rove said: "The president was not attacking pharmacists and pharmacies. He was responding to the Democrat leader of the Senate who called the Medicaid reforms 'immoral.'"

:wtf:
And they believed that?
:rofl:

(Note to self: Repuke pharmacists are apparently every bit as ignorant and gullible as the typical repuke voter. Bottom line...don't buy drugs from boneheads!)

[Seedersandleechers]

22. Maybe they should start selling their products under the table

[Alleycat]

24. Same here in NEPA

I have done advertising for two family owned pharmacies for the past three years. In the last month or so both called and asked that I pull their ads due to the whole medicare "debacle". They don't have the money right now to advertise.

[DeepModem Mom]

26. Thanks, Alleycat - I always appreciate stories from personal experience...

that show the real-life effect of what's reported in the news.