As stated in yesterday’s diary and implied in gwb’s weekly radio address, gwb’s intention is to ignore the problems that Medicare D has caused.  Instead, he will  make general statements re:  health care, such as the following:

“This year, I will ask Congress to take steps to make [health savings] accounts more available, more affordable, and more portable…Congress also needs to pass Association Health Plans, which allow small businesses across the country to join together and pool risk so they can buy insurance at the same discounts big companies get.”

Also, I have found nothing to even suggest that he is at all concerned about the problems that people with disabilities have faced when [attempting to] get their rx’s.  A few  examples:

Dr. Steven S. Sharfstein, president of the American Psychiatric Association, said the transition from Medicaid to Medicare had had a particularly severe impact on low-income patients with serious, persistent mental illnesses.

And

Dr. Jacqueline M. Feldman, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said that two of her patients with schizophrenia had gone to a hospital emergency room because they could not get their medications. Dr. Feldman, who is also the director of a community mental health center, said “relapse is becoming more frequent” among her low-income Medicare patients.

And these are the ones that have been reported!!  What about those of us who are/could be in similar situations due to this fiasco?

Now, here  are some responses by other republicans:
Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston:  

“There’s a tremendous opportunity for members of Congress to go out there and be the white knights — to listen, answer questions and get in the weeds with their constituents…But for members who feel they don’t want to bother, they are going to hear from those voters in November.”

Anyone else think we’ve got to start raising hell about this NOW?

Rep. Philip Gingrey, R-Ga., a physician who voted for the program:

“It’s no windfall politically…It could hurt us, but sometimes doing the right thing does hurt.”

A physician who advocates supporting a program that denys people their rx’s insists that is doing the right thing?

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa:

“It’s too early to commit to any legislative options…It’s unacceptable that some of the poorest, sickest people are having the most trouble, and it’s not what Congress intended.”

Hey Chuck, here’s a couple of questions:  Then why the hell did Congress make Medicare D so difficult to understand and implement?  Or are you just playing to both sides and hoping you’ll come out of this unscathed?

Tony Fabrizio, a GOP pollster:

“The real rubber meets the road when they see what their expectations were versus what they actually get.”

News flash:  from an aide to a prominent conservative member of Congress who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak for his boss:

“The fallout is likely to be huge…It’s likely to anger seniors, while reminding the conservative base about the big-government approach that Republicans took to health care.”

Quotes from Democrats quotes below
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y:  

“This Medicare bill is the biggest government fiasco in recent memory.”

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill re:  the “donut hole”/gap in coverage (increased expenses):  

“If you think they are mad now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

So are you two going advocate fixing the damn thing now, or waiting until after the mid-terms?  There are people’s lives at stake here!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the legislation proposed by the Democrats in the Senate would:

  •  provide federal reimbursement to the states that are stepping in with emergency funding for low-income seniors.
  •  staffing sign-up locations with trained Medicare employees and improving the agency’s telephone hotline.

Excuse me, but Medicare D was enacted in 2003!
It is now 2006!  Why weren’t Medicare employees “adequately trained”  earlier?

And, here are three  more points to consider:

First:  

Our health care system is private. They set their own rules and prices. They’re not accountable to anyone except maybe their share holders to assure they’re making a profit. They don’t take full responsibility for health care and yet they control the health care system.

Second:  

We currently pay at least twice more per person than other countries do and we get the least value due to administrative waste and lack of the ability to get discounts through bulk buying.  Studies show we have enough money in our health care system to provide every man, woman and child with a high quality, basic health care package if we administered the dollars wisely through a single payer, non profit system.
We could SAVE $286 BILLION in health care paperwork.

Third:  

If you can afford  a good health insurance policy, you get care; if you can’t, you don’t.  It’s been reported that 18,000 Americans DIE every year because they don’t have health insurance.

ANYONE IN DC EVER THINK ABOUT THAT???