WP says doughnut hole to get larger for 2 of next 3 years.

[madfloridian]

And won't go away for about 10 years.

This is beyond pathetic...the doughnut hole is going to grow for two years before it starts getting smaller??

Really?

The gap in the closing of Medicare's drug 'doughnut hole'

Six years after Congress added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, Democrats in the House and Senate are poised to make a central change that they and most older Americans have wanted all along: getting rid of a quirk that forces millions of elderly patients with especially high expenses for medicine to pay for much of it on their own.

The closing of an unusual gap in Medicare drug coverage -- a gap that Republicans had, when they controlled Capitol Hill and the White House, insisted was needed for the government to be able to afford the program -- would "forever end this indefensible injustice for American's seniors," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in announcing that the Senate would join the House in supporting the change.

But details of the change underscore that, for patients and the federal budget alike, the implications of the sprawling health-care bills pushed through by congressional Democrats are more nuanced than lawmakers' talking points.

But now for the part they are NOT talking about.

The Democrats and President Obama have been clear that the "doughnut hole," as the gap is known, would disappear gradually over the next 10 years. They have not mentioned that Medicare patients would, according to House figures, face a slightly larger hole in coverage during two of the next three years than they do today.

[rockymountaindem]

1. Every time you complain, another uninsured person dies

:sarcasm:

Of course, the fact that this doesn't kick in until 2014 never seems to daunt those who try to make those kind of remarks.

[highplainsdem]

2. K&R so this gets more attention.

[ProSense]

3. "They have not mentioned that Medicare patients would, according to House figures"

What about the Senate?

I'm not understanding here: first people wanted to kill the bill, now they're complaining it's not going into effect fast enough?

Also, didn't Dean say the House bill was the better bill?

[madfloridian]

4. You think it is ok for the hole to get bigger before it gets better??

Why is that?

[ProSense]

14. It's not okay, but

the solution isn't to kill the bill now is it? The fact is that is this is accurate, it obviously has to be addressed, and the bill isn't finalized.

[madfloridian]

Excuse me, I have NEVER said kill the bill.

I don't know that much about it yet.

Dean doesn't say kill the bill anymore since the WH went after him.

Besides he only said kill the senate bill and fix it in the house.

[ProSense]

22. The article cites House numbers. In fact, it's rather misleading

Under the health-care bill the House passed in November, people who reach the hole would be $500 better off next year than they would otherwise. But the impact over the next few years would be subtler than it appears at first for two reasons: The gap -- without any change -- is scheduled to expand each year, and the bill would fill it gradually. As a result, patients would face a larger coverage hole in 2011 and 2012 than this year, according to Ways and Means Committee data. After that, it would shrink more rapidly and disappear in 2019.

The just-passed Senate measure would narrow the gap halfway. Even before the bill was approved, Reid and the chairman of the two Senate committees that handle health-care issues said they would, as part of negotiations to resolve differences between the two bills, accept the House's goal of closing the hole completely.

Sounds like WaPo is playing a little spin game.

[madfloridian]

24. Oh, dear Lord, ProSense

Nevermind.

I don't know how to respond anymore.

[ProSense]

26. Why the drama? The WaPo article is misleading. n/t

[madfloridian]

30. "patients would face a larger coverage hole in 2011 and 2012 than this year"

Not ok.

[ProSense]

31. Not OK. Not clear:

The gap -- without any change -- is scheduled to expand each year, and the bill would fill it gradually. As a result, patients would face a larger coverage hole in 2011 and 2012 than this year...

What the hell does that mean?

[Donnachaidh]

32. comprehension problems?

What part of "As a result, patients would face a larger coverage hole in 2011 and 2012 than this year..." do you not understand?

Or is it not clear because it sheds light on the FACT that seniors are getting stuck paying MORE for the next two years, while the WH keeps harping about closing the donut hole?

Tough world - when reporting the facts goes against the cheerleading squad's talking points :eyes:

[eilen]

8. I fail to see the benefit of this to the Democratic Party

old people vote.

[tblue]

13. Can we be the only ones to see that?

Are they that stupid, or do they stay in power by something other than our votes?

[madrchsod]

19. dam right we do......

[madfloridian]

10. "now they're complaining it's not going into effect fast enough?"

"I'm not understanding here: first people wanted to kill the bill, now they're complaining it's not going into effect fast enough?

Also, didn't Dean say the House bill was the better bill?"

This post is about the donut hole getting bigger. Dean has nothing to do with it, I did not even mention his name.

Why are we just hearing about this?

[valerief]

5. I guess they want to dilate it to five centimeters before delivering health care reform. nt

[madfloridian]

6. Anyone want to defend the growing of the donut hole?

And perhaps explain why you defend it?

Somethings don't make sense.

[valerief]

7. Are they going to fill it with a bigger cruller? nt

[tblue]

11. For some things, there is absolutely no defense.

I heart you, madfloridian. I am going out of my ever loving mind and even many good Democrats defend the indefensible. I can't stand it anymore.

To solidarity!

[ChiciB1]

20. There Is NO Defense! Am I Surprised? You Know I Can't Really Answer That

question. I really, really can't! Am I becoming "numb" to the constant betrayal I feel? Does it go past outrage to some sort of fugue state where you then wake up to hysteria?

The sad reality is that far too many people have NO IDEA what is happening, and probably won't until it happens to them. Taxing cadillac Union insurance, bigger donut holes and apparently leaving the upper class clinking champagne glasses. And on and on, just new little tidbits dropped like crumbs from a whole cake!

Can I wish that when this goes to the House that improvements will be made, that these things will be slashed and there will be a cleanliness of this mess?

It makes my head spin and I so wish I could stop it!

[tblue]

9. I'm so glad we have a Democratic majority and White House.

Excuse me while I explode my head.

[Skink]

12. shouldn't we just negotiate better prices?

Obama isn't going to stop working on healthcare reform after this passage is he?

[madfloridian]

15. Do you think the donut hole should get bigger before getting smaller?

Since the very lives of seniors are at stake?

[Skink]

16. No it shouldn't get bigger.

[ChiciB1]

23. The Bill Already Has The Generic Pharma Companies Worried Because

they want to diminish generating more generics! This hasn't passed yet, I know, but with a BIGGER DONUT HOLE, and less generics won't this just COST MORE? If people can't afford drugs now, I suppose Dr. Kevorkian would have more business. Oh wait, he can't do that anymore!

Yes, THAT was over the top... but I said it anyway! I'm sitting here trying to wrap my brain around all that is happening and all that HAS happened, and feel completely useless!

[laughingliberal]

17. Between the pharmaceutical companies raising prices now 10%

and then having these 2-3 years to increase prices after 'reform' passes, any 'concession' Obama got from Phrma out of his secret deal will be moot. Buncha crap.

[madrchsod]

18. ..sometimes i wonder if they just wish we would crawl into a hole and die

because they do`t want to watch us die.

i know we will be old and a drain on society but at least let us die with some dignity...is that to much to ask for?

[laughingliberal]

21. That's pretty much the deal, I think

If we can't work anymore and we're poor they would appreciate our cooperation in not sticking around too long.

[phasma ex machina]

25. M$M fancies itself as part of the solution by touting yet another cute little neologism. nt

[madfloridian]

27. How the donut hole can harm...for those unfamiliar with it.

From the WP article:

"Pat Liberti, a retired nurse in Salem, Mass., who has heart disease and diabetes and has had five small strokes, takes 16 prescription drugs. She is 59, six years younger than the typical age to join Medicare, and is eligible because her health problems have classified her as disabled. She's entered the doughnut hole each year, this year in May. At that point, her Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan stopped paying 75 percent of her medicine's price. Since then, she has spent $2,206 on drugs.

"You know, I did everything right. I worked. I saved. I own my own home. I have an IRA," Liberti said. She had hoped to save the long-term disability checks she gets from her former job for her old age. Instead, she spends them on medicine.

How many people are in similar circumstances is unclear."

[mzmolly]

28. This is a confusing article. However, I'm glad Dems are addressing this. Certainly R's wouldn't be.

:hi:

[eridani]

29. That fucking abomination was created with ONE piece of legislation

It can be undone in one fell swoop as well. Too bad we are being represented by corporate whores.