BAIT & SWITCH: BUSH’S MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION “DISCOUNT” FORCES ELDERLY AND DISABLED TO TRADE FOOD FOR MEDICATION
Whenever I think Bushco has stooped as low as it can go, it turns out I just haven’t looked low enough.
Bush’s give-away to the drug companies, the highly-touted Medicare Prescription discount program, extracts another form of payment from the disabled and elderly: those who apply will get their food stamps cut.
So we’re back to square one for the poor elderly and disabled: eat, or pay for your medication.
A dilemma which the Medicare Prescription discount was supposed to ease — when actually, of course, it’s become another multi-trillion dollar burden for the taxpayer, and free money for the drug companies who are protected from having to lower their obscenely high prices.
From the New York Times:
“The new reading of the Medicare law, set forth in a document sent to Congressional offices this week, comes just as federal officials begin a nationwide campaign to persuade low-income people to apply for the drug benefit.”
Of course: bait and switch don’t work, unless enough of the poor fish know about the bait.
“The document, addressed to elderly and disabled people who receive food stamps, says, “You may qualify for extra help paying for your Medicare prescription drug costs.” But it adds, “If you qualify for extra help, your food stamp benefits may decline.”
And, in some cases, eliminate it entirely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/politics/08drugs.html
Outraged, much?
We need your help in expressing this outrage: who should we call, write, fax to protest this?
If you have contact info, please share.
I read this and then had to come back to it later….cause anything I wrote wouldn’t have been fit to read. Writing ‘outrage overload’ is becoming a mantra almost for everyone with no end in sight.
I’ll limit myself to ratbastards for now. I have no idea who to write to about this as it’s a done deal.
The only miniscule hope is that hopefully in the near future the next President will take on the health care problem in this country and we will all end up with a decent, humane working health care system….and no comfort for now for anyone under this plan that’s for sure.
We all knew the repukes pushed this boondoggle for the drug industry through and that it was one godawful mess but I didn’t imagine even they would stoop this low, silly goddam me.
It wasn’t just the drug companies that benefitted. The next wanna be president of the United Corporation of America, Dr. Sen. Bill (line my pockets) Frist, made sure that his daddy’s corporation, HCA is well taken care of in that bill. Seems HCA is going to realize somewhere in the vicinity of 60 to 85 billion dollars over the life of that bill. Not a bad vicinity to be in, wouldn’t you agree. So the Nuke man wants to make sure that the supreme court will uphold his fair share of that money. If he can get enough corporate pirates on the court then he gets to keep the cash and screw the American people over and over again. What a slime bag.