Cross posted on Daily Kos
Thu Jan 12, 2006 at 08:14:31 AM PDT
Today the crying stops.
Let’s begin by asking about Mrs. Alito’s tears. Why does Mrs. Alito weep? She weeps because the racist, bigoted past of her spouse is broadcast for the world to see.
Mr. Alito would prefer to brush his ignoble past quietly under the rug, and when he cannot, his wife weeps with shame.
Like many American citizens, I also weep. I weep when I read the headlines in the newspaper. I weep when I read that seniors are dying because they cannot get their lifesaving medication.
Mrs. Alito, do you also weep for our seniors? Today, let’s focus is on the corruption riddled Medicare Prescription Drug Program Part D.
Many of you probably received this urgent notice from Move-on.
“In 2003 under a cloud of corruption, Congress enacted a new Medicare law to provide prescription drug coverage–but it was a giant giveaway to the insurance and drug companies. The companies hired 952 lobbyists, spent $141 million on lobbying and contributed more than $30 million to campaigns. Drug profits rose $182 billion. Millions of seniors confused or hurt by the new law.”
The Abramoff, Delay, Bush, Cheney, Frist, Scalito, Hastert, et al, corruption machine has very real and terrible consequences for the most vulnerable among us. This is a fact. Forget for a moment the golf vacations. To focus on meals, hotel rooms, luxurious trips and skyboxes is to really miss the forest for the trees.
Read about the real world consequences of corruption:
Today the Philadelphia Inquirer shrieks on the front page: Medicare Meltdown.
“Nearly two weeks after it began, the new Medicare prescription drug program remains plagued by problems, and calls for help are growing, advocates report.
Many of the most vulnerable elderly and disabled patients have been unable to get medicine since the program’s start on Jan. 1, according to interviews with patients, medical professionals and public-interest lawyers.
In one case, a man whose leg was recently amputated cannot get Medicare to cover the antibiotics he needs to stop a life-threatening infection, according to lawyers for Community Legal Services. In another case, a woman with lung cancer was turned away from her first chemotherapy treatment because of a Medicare mix-up.
“There are breakdowns at every point, and there is no one there to fix them,” said Michael Campbell, executive director of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project.
Calls for help to Pennsylvania’s health insurance hotline have reached record levels, and several pharmacists said they had never seen greater chaos.
“This is not getting better. It’s getting worse, and it’s an outrage,” said Sam Brog, executive director of the Philadelphia Association of Retail Druggists. “They should end the program and start over.”
This is not nyceve beating her breast. This is about your mother and my mother, senior citizens having to fight for their prescription drugs. We are the richest country on the planet.
Imagine the amoral scum sitting in Congress, elected to represent us, foisting this deadly legislation on the American people. Imagine. Then explode with rage.
Now read what’s happening to the good citizens of Massachusettes: From the Boston Globe:
“On Monday, the state Medicaid Program, MassHealth, ordered pharmacists to fill prescriptions and bill the state if they are unable to verify a customer’s insurance coverage. Other states, including several in New England, have taken similar steps.
But George Sigel, a psychiatrist at South Boston Behavior Health Clinic, part of Tufts-New England Medical Center, said his patients are still being denied essential medications. He said one patient has been unable to get his prescribed antipsychotic medications at a CVS Pharmacy on West Broadway in South Boston.
”We are not talking about medication that’s for the treatment of minor symptoms,” said Sigel. ”These are life-supporting medications. The pharmacies are not doing what they’re supposed to do and I have patients in tears.”
Ruth Bylsma, 62, of Norton, said she suffers from arthritis of the back and a herniated disc and has been unable to get pain medication since Part D took effect. Because she received her drugs through Medicaid, Bylsma was randomly assigned to a Medicare plan when Part D took effect Jan. 1. Her doctor’s office needs to contact her new insurance company to confirm her enrollment, but has been unable to get through on a customer-service line.
”It’s been eight days and I’m in pain,” she said. ”I’ve done everything. This is crazy.”
The introduction of the drug plan has hit numerous snags. Some seniors don’t yet have documentation to prove they have coverage, pharmacists have been unable to contact insurance companies because help lines are clogged with calls, and Medicare’s web tools have provided incomplete or inconsistent information.
The problems come on top of the confusion seniors and caregivers have endured while trying to decipher the plan and choose from more than 40 options in Massachusetts. Some lawmakers have asked for a postponement of the May 15 deadline for seniors to choose a drug plan. Those who sign up later risk facing penalties.”
Yesterday, it was the IRS at war against the poorest. Today, it’s Medicare Part D. Piece by wicked piece, you see a society in abject decline and a government systematically stripping our country of everything we hold precious.
You thought it couldn’t happen in America. You thought that somehow we would be spared the vicious corruption and incompetence that has plauged civilizations since the beginning of time. You thought that our system of checks and balances would bring us back from the brink. You thought the strength of America was its diversity. You thought we were strong because we supported the weakest among us.
You thought the center would hold.
We must link Abramoff, Frist, Delay, Bush et al to the tremendous suffering Medicare D is inflicting on huge numbers of our fellow citizens.
The stakes are so very high.