Medicare Part D donut hole coming up. An email petition to the government:

[pinto]

From Campaign for America's Future.

http://www.ourfuture.org/

A week from today -- Friday, September 22nd -- President Bush's Part D prescription drug disaster will surprise tens of thousands of seniors when it stops paying for their medications! That's the day when the average Medicare enrollee falls into Part D's dangerous "donut hole".

Here's how it happens. People enrolled in Part D are only covered for their first, roughly, $2,000 in drug costs. After that, their drug coverage stops completely. They fall into the donut hole. Here, they're forced to pay monthly premiums, and get no coverage until spending nearly $3,000 out of pocket for their medications.

Many seniors simply don't have that money. The donut hole literally puts their lives at risk - forcing them to choose between paying for prescriptions, or other essentials like food or rent.

Join our petition and video contest to pressure President Bush and Congress to get rid of the donut hole, and to showcase creative donut-hole-elimination ideas that can help build this campaign. http://ga3.org/ct/2pMmsaK1EmmO/

The Part D donut hole has got to go! The only reason it exists is because Part D was designed more for insurance and pharmaceutical companies than for enrollees. The bill was written by two Republican lawmakers who were literally negotiating their next jobs with the pharmaceutical industry as they worked to create the law. They inserted a provision that actually forbid Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices, and then created the donut hole to pass the added expenses onto America's seniors and disabled.

Earlier this summer, we reached out to you for ideas on how to organize supporters to eliminate the donut hole. This petition and video contest is a hybrid of the many suggestions you made for direct action, public outreach, and online organizing. It aims to send a strong message to the President and Congress, and tap the creative power that you and thousands of others can provide to encourage others to get involved.

We hope you'll join us by weighing in today to help deliver thousands of petition signatures, eliminate 70,000 donut holes on video (one for every 100 seniors who will fall into the hole this year) and help build this campaign.

Next week, the Campaign for America's Future along our coalition partner at Americans United will host scores of events across the country to help eliminate the donut hole and replace Part D with a prescription plan that's simple, affordable and guaranteed. Stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved. In the meantime, please join our petition and video contest today.

http://ga3.org/ct/2pMmsaK1EmmO/

Thank you so much for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Signed

Roger Hickey, Co-Director
Campaign for America's Future

[DemInDistress]

1. Done... K&R for all our Medicare Part D Victims.. nt

[Benhurst]

2. Done. Maybe The World's Only Superpower should have

a national health program for all its citizens.

Oh, no. That would be too much to expect.

What a DUMP!

[ProSense]

3. Signed!

Article with good info here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2830062&mesg_id=2830062

[pinto]

4. kick

[Dem2theMax]

5. Done and thank you for posting this.

Last month my Mom got a call from her insurance provider. They told her she had less than $900.00 to go before she hits the donut hole. She is 88 years old. With all of her physical problems, it won't take long to eat up that $900.00. I have no idea how she and my Dad will be able to afford her medications if it gets to the 'donut hole' point.

Is it wrong to hope for a VERY hot hell for * ?