NYT: For Republicans, New Medicare Drug Plan Is Test at Home

[DeepModem Mom]

For Republicans, New Drug Plan Is Test at Home
By ROBIN TONER and ROBERT PEAR
Published: December 5, 2005


WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 - Under the normal rules of politics, Congressional Republicans ought to be doing victory laps these days because of the new Medicare drug benefit, accepting the gratitude of the nation's retirees.

Instead, at meetings around the country, they are trying to ease widespread confusion and apprehension about a program that strikes many retirees as dauntingly complex. At a forum in Louisville, Ky., last week, Representative Anne M. Northup, a Republican, tried to reassure about 300 intensely attentive retirees. "I encourage you not to be discouraged," Ms. Northup said, soothingly. "If you feel like you don't know where to go, please call my office."

Beyond altruistic concerns, Congressional Republicans have a keen political interest in ensuring an orderly, successful rollout of the program, which happens to begin in a highly competitive midterm election year. The drug benefits are available for the first time beginning Jan. 1, and the initial sign-up period, which began Nov. 15, lasts until May 15.

Nobody knows how popular the drug benefit will ultimately be with the nation's retirees, who are a critical voting bloc. But Congressional Republicans, who pushed through the Medicare drug law in 2003, have clear political ownership of it, and whatever credit or blame it brings, strategists say....

***

Already, many Democratic strategists argue that the new program - because of its complicated structure and gaps in coverage - could be much more of a problem than an asset for Republicans next year. Some Democratic challengers are already using the issue on the campaign trail, like Christopher S. Murphy, who hopes to unseat Representative Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticut, a senior Republican who played an important role in writing the law....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/politics/05drugs.html

[GrumpyGreg]

1. The Medicare Prescriptiuon plan SUCKS! There,I feel better.

[Shallah Kali]

2. Thanks to Bush Comy disabled Gram will be paying out $400 MORE per month

She qualifies for help from her home state because she is elderly and disabled. Under the GOP plan, which appears to follow the Enron's business ethic of F***ing Grandma Millie every chance you get, she gets kicked off the state plan. And then of course there is the so-called donut aka black hole where there is no aid that she will shortly fall into because of her medical needs. I have to fight to not grind my teeth everything I think of what they are doing to my poor Nana :mad: :grr:

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I'm so sorry, Shallah. Thanks for posting your personal experience. nt

[Shallah Kali]

5. Thank you for caring. This is what seperates most dems from most rw

We are able to care for people outside our family. I know too many people who say "as long as my family is comfortable, I don't care". Worse I am related to some of them :scared: Thank all that is holy that inhumanity isn't genetic!!!!

[ngGale]

3. January 1st, is going to be hell........eom

[Lugnut]

6. If the Dem strategists are smart

They'll hang this Medicare drug plan around the necks of the Pubs. This stupid "plan" is one of the biggest bad jokes that has been played on seniors and the disabled. Those of us who have tried and failed to make sense of it know it. Hopefully our votes will reflect it.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Don't forget the dirty tactics they used to get this vile legislation.

Administration Threatened Truth-teller on Medicare Bill

March 12, 2004

The behind-the-scenes intrigues surrounding the passage of the controversial Medicare prescription-drug bill last fall continue to mount. First, congressional leaders violated House rules in extending the voting period on the bill up to three hours after the initial vote count came up short. Then Rep. Nick Smith (R- MI) confessed – and later recanted – that he switched his vote in favor of the bill after threats and bribery attempts including promises of $100,000 from business interests for his son's campaign. Next, the White House unveiled a multi-million dollar ad campaign – using taxpayer funds – to defend the faulty legislation. The GAO released a report this week stating the ads misrepresented the prescription drug benefits and included "notable omissions and other weaknesses." And just yesterday, Knight-Ridder reported the Bush administration threatened to fire the government's top expert on Medicare costs if he told lawmakers about the real price tag for the bill prior to the voting.

• The administration and its allies purposefully misled the public about the true costs of the Medicare bill. In order to ensure passage of the controversial bill in November, the administration asserted it would cost $395 billion in the first 10 years – deliberately low-balling the costs to assuage skeptical Republicans and Democrats. Five months before the vote, the top expert on Medicare costs, Richard Foster, stated the new drug benefits would cost $551 billion over 10 years. Foster told colleagues in June he would be fired for revealing the true costs to legislators according to Knight-Ridder. Two months after Congress approved the bill, the White House admitted the Medicare benefits would cost at least $534 billion.
  
  
• The Bush administration's Medicare prescription-drug plan is a raw deal for seniors. The facts are clear on the Medicare bill: it forces seniors out of traditional Medicare and provides weak drug benefits. As the GAO report shows, the administration's misleading ads don’t tell seniors that those "who do stay with Medicare will not get the proposed drug coverage in 2006. The ads also don't say that to get the drug benefit, seniors must sign up for a separate insurance plan, similar to an HMO. And they don't say that if a senior stays in the traditional Medicare plan, they'll also have to pay more."
  
  
• Congress must demand legal accountability for any threats or bribery used to pass the Medicare legislation. Charges of out-right intimidation and bribery of legislators and government bureaucrats should not be taken lightly. The public deserves to know whether any federal laws were broken in the passage of the Medicare bill, and should investigations turn up malfeasance, all perpetrators must be held fully accountable.
  (snip/)

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=37095

[Hekate]

8. A drug plan created by a party that wants to eliminate Medicare

Grover Norquist et al strike again -- they said they want to get rid of every New Deal and Great Society program on the books.

How do you get rid of a wildly successful, wildly popular, just-needs-to-be-tweaked-a-little program?

• appoint political hacks to run it
• starve it for funds
• re-organize it
• "reform" it

At this point, it's a tried and true method.

I hope there is SUCH a revolt among the AARP set back home that every Repub congressman's head ends up spinning around like a scene from The Exorcist when they have those meet-your-representative affairs. And I hope every Dem congressman and candidate keeps reminding the folks just who it was who pushed this abomination through, and to what lengths they went to do it.

Frankly, I'm afraid to even ask my mother how it's going for her. She's really frail at this point -- I was there this summer, and my sis and bro visited during the fall, so we are checking in...

This is just so unutterably FUBAR.

Hekate

[DeepModem Mom]

10. I posted articles about that, and I'd forgotten! So much treachery...

on a daily basis from these people -- you lose track. Thanks for the reminder, Judi Lynn.

[Vinca]

9. This is a lose-lose situation for the 'pukes.

They lose any Democrats because we want universal health care and aren't fond of confusing the elderly. They lose Republicans because of a mortal fear of hearing a sucking sound in their bank accounts if taxes must be raised to pay for this fiasco. If the program was truly government sponsored (aaaaaarrrrrhhhhhhh - smacks of universal) and not cooked up by dozens of private insurers, each with a different plan, it might work.