Bush tells Congress 'No drug benefit for poor and disabled'

[Romberry]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/24/politics/24MEDI.html


WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — The Bush administration has quietly told Congress that it should not provide Medicare drug benefits to six million poor elderly and disabled people because they are already eligible for similar help through state Medicaid programs.

Administration officials said they were siding with the Senate, against the House and all 50 governors, on one of the most divisive issues in the Medicare legislation. A major issue of principle and large amounts of money are at stake. The principle, rooted in the history of Medicare, is that all benefits are generally available to all beneficiaries, regardless of their income.

Under the House version of the legislation, the new drug benefit would be available to all 40 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 6.2 million who are also eligible for Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income people. By contrast, the Senate bill denies Medicare drug benefits to people eligible for both programs. They would have to rely on Medicaid for assistance with their drug costs.

Although states are not required to provide drug benefits under Medicaid, all have chosen to do so. Medicaid has historically provided extensive drug benefits, but they vary widely from state to state, and in recent years states have reduced the coverage in an effort to hold down soaring costs.



More...

[reprobate]

1. Just another scheme to push costs to the states.

And that's the goal of the neocons, to gut the federal gov't to the size they can drown in a bathtub. To quote Grover Norquist, the true prince of darkness.

[Sick of Bullshit]

2. Meanwhile, billionaires get tax cuts

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sick of these goddamn greedy neocon fascists!

[Romberry]

3. In addition to that...

...there is the fact that the states are wallowing in red ink and can't afford it, hence the opposition of all 50 governors. Many states have drug benefits under Medicaid that are basically no benefit at all. Other states are already looking for ways to throw people off the rolls entirely. Alabama, just to take one example, is going to deal with the budget shortfall they already face by eliminating coverage for up to 10,000 children under All-Kids.

The Bush people are good at pushing Trojan Horse legislation like the NCLB crap that is designed to kill public schools. Is it possible that congress is too stupid to see it?

[InkAddict]

10. Maybe the good SBs in Alabama

can increase their tything and obtain some Federal $$ to fill in the gap for their own. Betcha a whole lot of them weren't eligible for the RW tax cuts. Hey, IRS would love to see more creative "charitable donations" and churn those senior dollars back to the pharmaceutical corporations jetty of no return to boot.

THOU SHALT NOT COVET, RW Feds!

Oops, that Southern Baptists, not Sons-of-*())_

[underpants]

5. What a "man of the people" he is

Why he was just heare in Richmond on Monday to thank all the workers at the Isabel EOC. I wonder if he told Gov. Warner about this or did he wait to run back to DC to do it. Oh I see he did neither he leaked so no one would have to stand up and say those very words.

Now that's LEADERSHIP!

[GainesT1958]

13. Yep...

Same kind of "leadership" we saw him demonstrate yesterday at the UN!x(

Hope everybody came through that tornado OK around your place!

B-)

[Karenina]

21. I DO NOT KNOW

what it will take for people to understand the awful reality that this is simply another part of the POPULATION REDUCTION scheme. Go ahead. Keep calling me "alarmist." :shrug:

[neuvocat]

26. And no funding for those programs to boot

since the federal tax dollars aren't getting sent to them in the first place after that tax cut.

[Zero Gravitas]

4. No help for those who need it the most

and more tax cuts for those who need it the least.

Typical Republic Party values.

[salin]

6. Compassion - only for the "overtaxed" Super Wealthy.

no need for any social contracts.

[Flying_Pig]

7. So you all understand how fucked this is....

I am disabled. I receive a little over $1,000 a month in disability benefits, and receive Medicare, which I have to pay for (Medicare ain't free), plus cover the deductables and co-pays.

From the money I receive each month, I must pay all of my living expenses, my Medicare policy deductables and co-pays, pay 100% for all of my prescriptions (which amount to almost $400 per month), plus any other expenses I may incur in daily life, like food, car insurance, gas, utilities, etc.

Now, after you deduct my prescription and Medicare costs, I am left with less than $500 per month to live on. Can someone please tell me how I can pay rent, buy food, and exist in the United States on $400+ per month??? I do not qualify for state-funded Medicaid, which would help pay for my prescriptions and Medicare costs, because I make a whopping $12 a month too much from my disability benefit, so I am disqualified!!

What Bush is telling people like me, is that we can get screwed!! To add insult to injury in my case, my disabilities stem from nuclear weapons testing exposures as a young child, which have given me a life of cancers, pain, and incredible hardship, all caused by the government, which has yet to take responsibility for what they've done to me, and tens of thousands of others.

So, I have a message for G.W. Bush:
FUCK YOU ASSHOLE! I will work until my dying breath to see you roast in hell!!

:grr:
!!!

[GainesT1958]

15. Considering how much he cares about folks in your situation...

PIG--I'd say you handled that pretty diplomatically!:eyes:

You're right; you can't pay rent on any decent dwelling, even with Section 8 vouchers, with what you have left over. It's sickening that you have to pay $400 for prescriptions alone WITHOUT any co-pay benefit. All Dub cares about, meanwhile, is ensuring that Cheney's Halliburton gets all of ITS benefits in Iraq. x(

The only good news out of all this is, apparently, more of the American public is finally waking up to the fact that Dub & Co. have spent most of the last three years doing nothing but screwing us!:grr:

B-)

[InkAddict]

8. Then they better be damned sure

the corporations can't disown their promises to retirees who have "in gratitude for your service to XYZ Corp." benefit plans. If corporations are allowed to reneg on the benes cause UnKie Sam or their State made a new plan to grab senior $$, eligibility for these folks needs to be picked up under a Federal program because the corporations can move their incorporations from state to state at will and many seniors have a penchant for moving to a)states where their kids live; b)states with warmer climates; c)states where state laws are more compassionate, which is why State-level programs are not the way to go.

Poor Jeb, so much sunshine, so many seniors - perhaps he can get them all to move to N.Dakota (or where-ever), the new senior ghetto.

[bvar22]

9. Why do the republicans HATE AMERICA so much?

*

[peterh]

22. I don’t believe they really “hate” America…

It’s just that they really believe in what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours (I may be stretching the latter a tad bit) and if you don’t have anything, well tough shit. Compassion for the needy is a socialist thingy and they won’t/can’t have any of that.

[bluedog]

11. just got to say

this.....with all the money going to Iraq....we have NO money left to help our own country.....I think they should just SHUT Congress down til 204....there is no sense of being paid for doing nothing...which there is nothing they can do with out money......the budget is so far out of wack......Go home....NO pay......:grr:

[Flying_Pig]

17. That's what I suggested a week ago. Shut the Congress down, and/or

filibuster EVERY SINGLE BILL the Republicans put up. Bring the government to a halt, until we get the truth about:
Iraq
9/11
Enron
Cheney Energy Group meetings
The budget

In addition, this would stop the coming give-away of $19 BILLION in the Republcian energy bill to their patrons. Why should the Dems be complicit in this screwing of America, when it is within their power to shut the damned place down, until their demands for justice and truth are met, and to stop horrible legislation and radical-winger judicial picks?

F-I-L-I-B-U-S-T-E-R !!!......F-I-L-I-B-U-S-T-E-R !!!

:grr:
!!!!

[trogdor]

12. The issue is, which plan is better in the long run.

This is the key phrase - "states are not required to provide drug benefits under Medicaid."

So all of the do - today. What if the state budget mess gets worse? What then? Who gets screwed?

The solution is to make Medicare drug coverage available to all, while mandating that those eligible for Medicaid choose either one or the other. Merging the two might clear the way for a Vermont-style extension of benefits to all of the currently uninsured, and the neocons can't have that.

Anyway, the solution that makes the most sense gets shitcanned, as usual.

[izzie]

14. Well I hope I need no pills as I can not pay for them.

I pay for glasses and teeth and that is costly at my age.My Health ins. takes all my extra money so I can not go to doctor as it will cost to much. You will have to figure that one out. It pays for no pills, eyes or glasses or dentist but I can not pay for docs on top of this. My last check up cost me 100s and I am 68 and on Medicare. It would have been more but I fought them for over a year. They ended up telling me that it cost me that because there was nothing wrong with me. I needed a head doctor after I got done with it.Every test they say is free I had to pay for and some test they put in so I could have the test they said I needed. Those they also said I was to pay for.Now I just do not go to the doctor and just have my eyes checked and teeth cleaned and e-rayed. I felt like I had falling down the rabbit hole.I could not handle pills.

[7th_Sephiroth]

16. Citizens:

Get your pitchforks and torches and go to your local goverment building and give them a lesson

[pink_poodle]

18. Are you Celtic? What an interesting name......

I am Celtic and curious grin.

[Nottingham]

19. Oh this will make Bush popular with the elderly!

:bounce: How can ANYBODY vote for this low life

[Mari333]

20. My mom is 76, she filed for bankruptcy yesterday.

The costs of her meds are killing her. She has reached the point of choosing to pay for heat, food, or meds.
Thats it. She cant do it anymore.

[twilight]

23. thanks for another kick in the head *!

What an SOB, thats all I can say! :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[Starpass]

24. Now, the real trillion dollar question:

Are the Dems going to pick this up and literally scream about it---I mean as in specifically naming it and specifically contrasting it to all the money for Iraq?? If they don't, no one will know.....this has happened before and even a whole pile of elderly end up not knowing what's going on until too late. Will they put it in terms of not only people BUT what a continuing bleeding mess for states that inevitably means that states have to raise more taxes, etc. They have to cut the "talking in broad attacks" and be so specific that only the terminally dumb would not be able to understand.

[PaDUer]

25. KICK

eom