With all the problems surrounding the Medicare Prescription Drug Program, you
would think they would just leave well enough alone. Well that’s not the case
and the newest round of legislation threatens health coverage to seniors and the
poor:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 — Millions of low-income people would have to pay
more for health care under a bill worked out by Congress, and some of them
would forgo care or drop out of Medicaid because of the higher co-payments
and premiums, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report.

The Senate has already approved the measure, the first major effort to
rein in federal benefit programs in eight years, and the House is expected
to vote Wednesday, clearing the bill for President Bush.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Mr. Bush plans to recommend
a variety of steps to help people obtain health insurance and cope with
rising health costs. But the bill, the Deficit Reduction Act, written by
Congress over the last year with support from the White House, could reduce
coverage and increase the number of uninsured, the budget office said.

Article continues
here.

Bush does his usual deception here by trying to make the program sound
better, but as with anything once you read the fine print you realize it is
actually worse. The prescription program, which went into effect the first of
the month, has already deprived millions from medicine. It has been so bad that
it has forced numerous states to declare public health emergencies. This program
is just going to compound those problems.

If there is ever a time to make sure you get to the polls, this November is
it. We need to weed out these politicians who act as whores to the corporations
and replace them with politicians who truly care about the American people.