Costly New Problems for Bush's Medicare Drug Program

[LiberalHeart]

Many elderly and disabled Americans enrolled in the Medicare drug benefit will face new difficulties obtaining their medicines on April 1st, say advocacy groups familiar with the program. On that date, insurers will have more latitude to tell pharmacists they won't pay for a particular drug. Before that, insurers have been told they should pay for a prescription even if it's not on the list of drugs they cover.

Much more here:
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=4651504

(Share this link with everyone you know who's enrolled in the Medicare Drug Benefit Program ... they need a heads up to avoid potential trouble in just a couple of weeks.)

[nascar55]

1. Safer- -

and cheaper- - drugs......not words that go togather....were is the AARP on this? much less the Dem's in Congress? :freak:

[China_cat]

2. This piece of shit never would have passed

without the AARP endorsement of it. You think anybody's going to trust them now? You think they don't know that?

[PSPS]

3. The AARP now is really nothing more than an insurance company itself

It's part of the problem.

[InkAddict]

4. Do you think they really care?

I have the impression that this organization is now only interested in discounted leisure for those that can still play a round, hula in Hawaii, or take in some rowdy operettas in Nashville. In other words, retired persons with portfolios maybe....

Credibility as an advocate for folks on fixed incomes who struggle with affording a healthy diet, keeping the heat on in winter and keeping cool when it reaches 100 degrees and air pollution alerts high, getting to the doctor when it's time to turn over the keys.....

:rofl: in bitterness at what *'s admin has done to this country and others!

[cassiepriam]

15. AARP is in the same place as congressional Dems

Living on another planet with their heads up their behinds

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. It's sick poor old people. They have no voice, no lobby.

The USA shits on the poor & elderly, the have always shit on the poor & elderly. It is a true shame and a crime.

[depakid]

10. AARP sold them out

They're more interested in selling insurance these days....

[kurth]

6. The murderous Bush regime

Killing people at home and abroad.

[salin]

7. Relative already has had problems

in just the second month enrolled.

The problems and visibility of the problems are only going to escalate during the early summer, when those who rush to enroll in May (due to the deadline - which I believe may have been extended - but is still being touted as sign up by now or face a penalty that lasts in perpetuity)... give those folks one or two months to try to get their previously available meds (as these will be folks who still have insurance now - but due to fear of the deadline and uncertainty as to whether their current plans will be cut off in the future and were they not to switch they may have nothing).

By the fall this will be a huge political issue - as more and more families will be pulling together to try to find the funds to buy meds no longer available or affordable for family members caught in this program.

On the political side there will be a predictable battle between the House GOP and the WH - as the WH wants to push all GOPers to "stay the course" and spin things as going well with some natural glitches that are being worked out (bush has too much ego to allow real criticism or change for *his* policy) - while the GOP in congress, fighting for its collective life as the majority party and facing the wrath back home will be anxious to be seen as creating a fix. Many dems already have proposals (turned back in the GOP congress) to run on as possible fixes to some of the mess created by this program.

[teryang]

8. The problems were designed to happen, like a poison pill.

One disaster after another for the corporate looters of the treasury.

[FlaGranny]

9. I know this program is bad for a lot of people,

but, so far, it has been good for us, because our HMO offers it free of charge, with all generic drugs on their list being free throughout the whole year - no copays on them, ever. We have to pay slightly higher copays for a couple of other things, but I see it costing us no more than we had to pay (overall for both drugs and medical care) than we did before. I don't particularly like the restrictions of an HMO, but it is the closest we've ever had to health care we can afford to use whenever we need to. Primary care provider is free, specialist $5, about $250 maximum for a hospital stay. Labs and x-rays free, etc. The only thing that could really get expensive is a nursing home stay if we had to be there more than a week.

[LiberalHeart]

11. It is good for my mom, too -- because she had one choice...

...and her insurance is good. She didn't have to wade through a multi-option program to figure out what was best for her. This may be why the gov is now talking about narrowing the program down to just a couple or maybe three options.

[ooglymoogly]

12. this is only the beginning

in the beginning they are out to win the minds of the gullible...just wait a few months to see what is really going on...do you think the drug co's that pushed this through with aarp do not have a plan to fleece the poor and elderly and the taxpayers paying the enormous bills for this program.
if you need proof look what they did to people trying to buy cheaper drugs in canada where drug mark ups aren't 300%. the aarp and drug co's think of the poor and elderly as their drones and they have every right to fleece them and woe be tide the person or persons who get in their way...remember hillery

[FlaGranny]

19. My HMO has all three plans,

but the formulary is the same as it was when we just had their discount plan, rather than Medicare D, so my husband didn't have to change any meds. When you have an HMO, you've got to be real careful - you can't pick another companuy's Med D plan or your HMO will drop you - so there is no use looking anywhere else. Makes it simpler, anyway.

What our HMO does is offer the three different plans combined with their health insurance plans at graduated copays for health care. All three drug plans are free - you pay for them with higher deductibles for health services. It worked out pretty good for us. They also have a discount drug plan that is not part of Med D, but if you don't take Med D, it would probably cost more later.

[Cleita]

14. The problem with the privatized Medicare HMOs that I found with my

husband is that no doctors in my area wanted to accept them because they paid so little. There was a wholesale dumping of Medicare HMO patients in my area five years ago.

Also, while we were traveling they wouldn't pay for anything out of the area except emergency room care. My husband fell ill at this time when we were way up in Eastern Washington.

We had to pay for all his follow up visits after the emergency room visit out of pocket because he had signed his Medicare over to them. There's a lot more, but since then I don't trust these privatized Medicare HMOs to do the right thing when they can find a way to not pay for you.

So keep a critical eye open to how the operate.

[LiberalHeart]

16. The one where I live is very good...

It's attached to a large teaching hospital and has thousands of docs. It also has a set up for using out of area facilities while traveling. But I know that's not the case for many such programs.

I wish I could get into the one here, but I still have a few years to go before I qualify. Meanwhile, my insurance premium is $728.28 per month for just me, and that doesn't include Rx coverage or any medical equipment. I have a fairly high deductible to meet before the insurance takes over -- thousands out of pocket at 30% before 100% kicks in each year.

[Cleita]

17. I hear you. The insurance companies really sock it to you in

those years before you qualify for Medicare. I wish we could get some decent government in Washington to start addressing these domestic problems we have like health care.

[FlaGranny]

18. I went without insurance for two

years before I was eligible for Medicare. Just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I could have continued a Cobra plan after the original 18 months ran out, but it was $1000 for the same coverage or $800 for lesser coverage. I just couldn't afford it.

I hate HMOs and always have, but its the only affordable insurance. Ours has been okay so far, and the doctors on the plan - at this point - are okay. I don't know how many doctors will stay on the plan when they cut reimbursement to the doctors again, though.

[Cleita]

13. I'm glad I didn't enroll. My meds are less than a $100 a month

at this time, but I fear for the future as I get older and more needing of meds.

[Imagevision]

20. Drug plan was orchestrated by drug & insurance companies, can't win!

Drug plan has too many loop holes installed in favor of the companies... Bush is scum!