Health officials disguising Trump's drug cards as a "test" to get round funding laws

[muriel_volestrangler]

As officials debate how to get Trump’s name on the cards, health officials warn of a taxpayer-funded boondoggle to bolster president’s flagging poll numbers.

The taxpayer-funded plan, which was only announced two weeks ago and is being justified inside the White House and the health department as a test of the Medicare program, is being driven by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the officials said. The administration is seeking to finalize the plan as soon as Friday and send letters to 39 million Medicare beneficiaries next week, informing seniors of Trump's new effort to lower their drug costs, although many seniors would not receive the actual cards until after the election.

The $200 cards — which would resemble credit cards, would need to be used at pharmacies and could be branded with a reference to Trump himself — would be paid for by tapping Medicare's trust fund.
...
The administration has since portrayed the taxpayer-funded drug-discount card plan as a "test" of whether the cards encourage Medicare beneficiaries to more regularly take their medicine while lowering their costs, using what is known as Section 402 authority. The plan has some parallels to a similar proposal that Meadows and other officials, including Medicare innovation chief Brad Smith, negotiated with the pharmaceutical industry this summer. The drug industry ultimately backed away from that plan, worried about the perception of politically aiding Trump’s re-election, The New York Times first reported.

Verma, the Medicare chief and a close ally of Vice President Mike Pence, has worked with Meadows to rush the plan across the past two weeks, said five officials. Verma also has embraced the plan despite its stated goal to dip into Medicare’s trust fund to cover any additional costs, which two officials said was a reversal of Verma’s years-long position that the fund should remain untouched. Verma has repeatedly warned that the fund, which is largely paid for by taxes and Medicare premiums and used to cover seniors’ health care, is at risk and insisted that it should be protected from political priorities like Democrats’ push for universal health care.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/08/seema-verma-mark-meadows-drug-card-plan-427950

So they reverse their position on Medicare spending, and paint a universal scheme as a "test", just to get round the fact that congress would never approve this blatant election stunt. It's all about getting Trump's name onto a letter to send to senior citizens saying "I GIVE YOU STUFF!!!!", in the hope he can reverse the catastrophic decline in support from that age group. All of which they deny, without any credibility. If they push it through, it'll just mean less funds for other Medicare needs.

[lagomorph777]

1. We should send out cards announcing that Turd has defunded Social Security.

[KPN]

2. This is illegal really. If it is found to be illegal by courts at a later date, can't the

perpetrator be held personally liable for losses incurred by Medicare taxpayers? We need to go after these people's money.