I first mentioned the problems of the new Medicare program in a post
yesterday. I was using it as an example of how Democrats can use that to try and
swing some of the critical senior votes. The problem was that the snags the new
Medicare program has been encountering this past week have not yet been
reported. Well now that has changed:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 – Low-income Medicare beneficiaries around the country
were often overcharged, and some were turned away from pharmacies without
getting their medications, in the first week of Medicare’s new drug benefit.
The problems have prompted emergency action by some states to protect their
citizens.

Although there are no hard numbers, concerns expressed by state officials
and complaints from pharmacists suggest a widespread pattern of problems.

At least four states – Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont –
acted this week to make sure poor people received the drugs they were
promised but could not obtain through the federal Medicare program.

Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, a Republican, said the state would pay drug
claims for low-income people until the federal government fixed problems in
the new program, known as Part D of Medicare. Michael K. Smith, the state’s
secretary of human services, said, “The federal system simply is not
working.”

On Thursday, the Vermont Legislature passed a bill declaring, “There is a
public health emergency due to the federal implementation of Medicare Part
D, which has resulted in serious operational problems, causing Vermonters to
be turned away at the pharmacy without the drugs they need.”

Many factors contributed to the initial chaos. Some people who enrolled
in Medicare drug plans did not have any proof of coverage. Pharmacists could
not get the information needed to verify eligibility for drug benefits and
low-income subsidies. Insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit
managers were swamped with calls, so pharmacists often had to wait an hour
or more on telephone help lines.

Federal officials promised improvements, but state officials were growing
impatient.

In Maine, Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat, agreed to pay drug claims to
provide medications for those in need. Since Tuesday, the state has incurred
$2 million of expenses for Medicare beneficiaries.

On Friday, Gov. John Hoeven of North Dakota, a Republican, said he had to
act because “some low-income elderly and disabled individuals can’t get
their prescriptions filled through their Medicare drug plans.”

In New Hampshire, Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, signed an executive order
authorizing the state to pay drug claims that he said should have been
covered by Medicare. Republican leaders of the state legislature called a
special session to provide the money. The start of the Medicare drug program
“has been a nightmare for many of our citizens,” Governor Lynch said.

“Many are being charged unaffordable co-payments for prescription drugs –
co-pays much higher than they are supposed to be. Too many of them are
leaving pharmacies without their prescriptions.”

Article continues

here.

The article continues with heart breaking accounts of seniors not able to get
life saving drugs such as insulin because the program is broken. They are being
asked to pay deductibles and extremely high co-pays. For a low income senior
living on Social Security, this makes it impossible to get the drugs they need.

This program was a Republican born plan and has been brought into existence
through the Republican party. We can expect Bush to try and exploit the problems
to try and further his Social Security reform agenda but this has nothing to do
with that. The fact is this program went into existence to help out the drug and
insurance companies. It was another pet project for Republican’s to help out
corporate America while screwing over the people of this country.

Now I sit here wondering how many people will die because of this greed. Some
people can not go more than a day without these drugs and will risk death.
Everyone of those deaths will be on the Republicans in Congress and everyone who
supported this program. It is definitely time to replace everyone of those
bastards.