Eddie died; was Medicare a part?

[RhodaGrits]

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/04/15/news-tleddie-04-15.html

By Tim Logan
Times Herald-Record

-snip-
Newburgh - They say Eddie Rosa was good about taking his meds.

Every month, he'd walk in to Ace Drugs on Broadway and pick up his prescriptions, all 23 of them.

"Like clockwork," says Marty Irons, a pharmacist there.

But then came Jan. 1 and the new Medicare drug plan. Eddie had to start paying a bit for his prescriptions. He complained he couldn't afford it. In February, Eddie didn't come pick them up. A few weeks later, Eddie died.

No one can say for sure that the new Medicare drug plan caused Eddie Rosa's death, but some people who know him think it did. And they don't want it to happen to anyone else.
-snip-

Just more casualties of BushCo... I stood behind an elderly woman in the pharmacy the other day who was angry, confused and on the verge of tears over this Medicare mess. The pharmacist was patient and tried to work with her but you can't get blood out of a turnip. She just didn't have the money and didn't understand why she suddenly was asked to pay so much more.

[XanaDUer]

1. I'd bet $ on it.

...

[greekspeak]

2. Why, how can Big Pharma get Bigger unless the neediest suffer?

The government, under the Reich Wing, has as its first responsibility to make its rich corporate sponsors even richer. Somewhere about priority 250 million are the Eddie Rosas of America.

[hwmnbn]

3. This is genocide by economics ........

This Medicare prescription drug fiasco did not happen by accident. They intended for the sick and poor seniors to be unable to either understand the scheme or pay the increase.

If the weakest among us die, there will be less money "wasted" on them and their benefits. This is the repug "cost-cutting" attitude. It was premeditated.

I had to help my mom navigate this plan and it was a nightmare. I can only imagine what those elderly who don't have families to help them must be going thru.

[leftchick]

4. this is all part of the plan to kill off the most dependent

<snip>

"At this point, the only reliable resource is the kindness of friends and strangers," said Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center.

So ask your doctor, pharmacist or hospital. They may be able to help. Some drug companies are still running freebie programs, and some local charities are helping people cover co-payments.

"But how long can they keep that up?" asked Mary Lou McCarville, assistant director of the Orange County Office for the Aging.

[tblue37]

19. The Nazi's called such people "useless eaters."

But no matter how Nazi like this administration is, we aren't supposed to say so.

[WePurrsevere]

5. Yet the gov is penalizing and using scare tactics to try and get folks to

sign up for this POS legislation written by big pharm companies and shoved through by RepubliCONs who brown nose up to their big money feeding trough.

The choices are horribly confusing. The benefits are confusing, the deductible is high the caps are low and many are hurting or going to be hurting because of this so called "benefit". Also for each month that a disabled person or senior does NOT sign up they are penalized 1% which adds up plus your coverage won't take effect until the next enrollment period. (more info from Democratic Congressman Stupak, Michigan HERE)

My DH and I are disabled and on Medicare. Althuogh we're still semi-debating it we haven't signed up yet for any plan yet and don't think we will be for a few reasons... one of which is that we rarely use prescription meds since we currently find more help from using good nutrition, nutritional supplements and alt healing modalities. We know we don't know what the future brings and worry about not signing up soon but a) neither of us feel we should be basically coerced into joining a plan we don't need just to feed the Rx industry monsters and b) we can't afford more taken out of our already very tight and "fixed" income budget... especially not with oil prices climbing, this past winter being a very cold one in this house (in NNY) as a very fresh memory and worries about heating our home next Winter. (Sorry but IMO no one in this country should have to choose between things they NEED like: heating their home, eating and meds. :grr: )

We're hoping like heck that Dems regain enough power to do a MAJOR revamp on this RePUKE POS Medicare drug "benefit" so that it better benefits ALL those that need it.. not mostly the Rx companies (better yet would be seeing Ted Kennedy's idea come to fruition.. opening up Medicare for ALL Americans.)

God/dess but I am soooooo ready for Dems to get control.... first step... Nov. '06 and then onward to an even larger win in 2008! (We shall persevere!... we must so please don't give up the fight and hope.)

[newswolf56]

6. Exactly as others say, this program is deliberate genocide.

Advocates for elderly and disabled people have been warning against just such a debacle since the program was enacted, so any attempt by the politicians to claim they were unaware it would kill people -- especially the most vulnerable people -- is merely another fascist lie. Indeed if the program were honestly named it would be called the Medicare Prescription Drug Lord Benefit: another example of the U.S. policy of turning social services into Big Business profit centers -- and deliberately structuring such programs to exterminate "undesirables" (that is, people the corporations can't make a profit off of) in the process. More and more, U.S. domestic policy is just Nazism with elevator music.

[Deja Q]

8. Impossible. Bush told us he is a compassionate conservative.

If he was compassionate, he'd hand out painless cyanide pills to everybody instead.

[Karenina]

10. No stats, no nasty pictures

no accountability.

[Deja Q]

7. Well, he was taking them for a viable reason, wouldn't you say?

Viable. Literally.

Only the coroner will know the truth.

Only an ethical one will be honest with the paperwork.

[Benhurst]

9. This is BushAmerica, the land of "Root, hog, or die."

Get used to it. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

[Old Vet]

11. I duped posted this article, My hometown,

This is criminal, Doing this to our lest fortunate.

[Fovea]

12. THis makes me want to take a baseball bat

to the entire government's knees.

[Cleita]

13. I hope everyone sends these stories to our Congressional

representatives. They were complicit in passing this bill that essentially cut these needy recipients off from Medicaid that allowed them to get the life saving medications that they need. Since the pharmaceutical companies wrote this bill that Bush backed, they too are very responsible.

My Congressman, Bill Thomas gets most of his campaign funding from the for profit health care industry and was instrumental in putting this legislation on the calendar as head of the "Ways and Means Committee". Although he is retiring after this term, I think he needs to know about this and any other deaths resulting from this bill.

There will be no happy retirement playing golf for this guy as long as I'm around to rub this in his nose.

[cascadiance]

14. All a part of the "Culture of Life"...

[Tracer]

15. Democrats need to get rid of the penalty for not signing up!

Among other things ... like revamping the program to allow negotiations by the government on drug pricing.

[vickitulsa]

16. Just the latest in a long line of govt programs aimed at eliminating

the poor, ailing, defenseless and "unproductive" among us.

I've been disabled and reliant on Medicare for five years. My yearly income is about $8,400 -- and yes, you read that right. Sole income is from my SSDI (Disability) benefits, and only health care coverage is from Medicare and Medicaid. I require 10 prescription medications to stay alive and for pain management. Without the pain meds, I'd end my own life immediately, the sheer physical agony is that extreme.

Before this new Medicare drug plan went into effect, Oklahoma Medicaid paid for my meds, and I had only $1 or $2 copays due to my poverty status. You can't imagine the fear and dread that gripped so many of us when this new Medicare drug plan was announced, because I'm not alone in my anxiety that any day the govt could do something to deny me the meds I need to survive.

In my case, as with many others at the bottom of the pile in our society, the govt did not offer me a choice of plans but automatically put me on one they selected. It may work out okay for me, but the first month I had to get my pain meds after it went into effect, I went through utter HELL.

For three days, the new insurance company refused to pay for my primary pain med script, leaving me with only the breakthrough pain pills which are not enough, not strong enough, not time-release -- and of course, I had to take way more of them to make up for not having my primary pain med. I had no money to pay for what I needed myself, so if the new company wouldn't pay, I could not get my med, period, even though I had a written prescription for it.

Even with the breakthrough med to fall back on, my pain was NOT controlled during those three days; and all the while I spent anxious, frustrated hours on the phone trying to get the glitch straightened out. But of course, the pharmacy, the insurance company, and my doctor's office all used automated phone answering services so that I played enless rounds of "phone tag" just trying to get a human being to help me!

For one entire day, when I called the insurance company, I got a long recorded message to listen through, then when I punched in the numbers in response, at the end came a recording that said: "I'm sorry, your call cannot be answered at this time," and the system hung up on me. Didn't give any option of where else to turn, another number to try, NOTHING.

Finally, I did get a human being and from her a number for my doctor to call to "pre-approve" my primary pain med for the next year. Of course, they can change THAT policy at any time, too, and I could be right back to being refused my meds!

I tell ya, folks, it's a nightmare out here for the poor, elderly, and disabled!

I never thought I'd be one of them, but if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. I worked hard for all of my adult life and paid tons in taxes. My dad said they'd NEVER do away with Social Security and Medicare, the people would demand that these programs be there for them.

But I'm afraid all but a few of us, "the people," have forgotten or never knew that they could DEMAND anything of the government employees who supposedly work for US....

Newswolf56, I like your new name for this Medicare Drug Lord program, although I think they ought to call Medicare itself "MediDON'Tcare"!

[quaoar]

17. May Bush rot in hell

[UrbScotty]

18. So much for being 'pro-life' (nt)

[area51]

20. Medicare

As other posters have said, this is genocide, & the republinazi party knew this was going to happen. Truly, this proves we are not a civilized nation, along w/not having universal healthcare & allowing people to die due to lack of enough wealth to pay for medical procedures.

[SoCalDem]

21. And yet.. Had Eddie been incarcerated, he would have gotten his meds

go figure :(

[sellitman]

22. Or been a successful right wingmut talk show host!

Oxycontin is easy to get if you are a repuke.