Six million lost coverage on first day of Bush Medicare drug program

[ProSense]

Six million lost coverage on first day of Bush Medicare drug program

by Jon Perr

With the Affordable Care Act now in full effect, the conservative propaganda factory is working overtime to produce and publicize Obamacare horror stories, real or imagined. So with the federal government, the states, private insurers, hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies scrambling to assist the six million newly insured so far, the GOP's media water carriers are decrying enrollment snafus, delayed surgeries, emergency fixes in the states, and even national drugstore chains providing a month of prescriptions to customers whose proof of insurance is in limbo. (Breitbart went so far as to suggest that Walgreens and Walmart might be offering that customer service in order to do data mining for Uncle Sam.)

As it turns out, these furious conservatives are suffering from a particularly acute case of selective amnesia. Just eight years ago this week, the calamitous launch of President Bush's Medicare prescription drug program left over six million previously insured seniors without coverage. Hundreds of thousands more could not get their medications as problem-plagued government computer systems, confused insurers, and undertrained pharmacists left subscribers panicked and helpless. But unlike today's sabotage of the Affordable Care Act by Republicans in Congress and in the states, Democrats at all levels helped the Medicare Rx program whose design they opposed.

As the Washington Post reported in January 2006:

Two weeks into the new Medicare prescription drug program, many of the nation's sickest and poorest elderly and disabled people are being turned away or overcharged at pharmacies, prompting more than a dozen states to declare health emergencies and pay for their life-saving medicines.

...

Roughly 6.4 million seniors who just days earlier had gotten their prescriptions for free as Medicare/Medicaid "dual eligibles" faced the prospect of going without because of untrained pharmacists and computer glitches. By January 16, 2006, the New York Times reported, many states (most of them led by Democrats) came to their rescue:

About 20 states, including California, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and all of New England, have announced that they will help low-income people by paying drug claims that should have been paid by the federal Medicare program.

Among the governors taking action were future Obamacare foes Tim Pawlenty and Mike Huckabee, who declared a health emergency in his state of Arkansas. The fiasco prompted the Bush administration to take drastic measures:

With tens of thousands of people unable to get medicines promised by Medicare, the Bush administration has told insurers that they must provide a 30-day supply of any drug that a beneficiary was previously taking, and it said that poor people must not be charged more than $5 for a covered drug.

It's no wonder why Paul Krugman summed up the whole catastrophe as "D for Debacle."

But it didn't remain a debacle for long. Days before Bush ordered insurers to "aid the ailing Medicare drug plan," Walgreens, CVS, and other national drugstore chains then as now announced they would fill prescriptions for customers unable to provide proof of their new coverage. (It is worth noting that no state sued the Bush administration for acting without Congressional authorization when it required insurers to provide the emergency prescription coverage described above.) But despite the fact that even Republicans like John Boehner and Tim Pawlenty admitted President Bush's rollout of Medicare Part D was "horrendous" and "awful," Democrats did everything they could to save it. As then-Senator Hillary Clinton described the effort to salvage a program she and most Democrats opposed as an unnecessarily expensive giveaway to private insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms:

"I voted against it, but once it passed I certainly determined that I would try to do everything I could to make sure that New Yorkers understood it, could access it, and make the best of it."

Wisconsin Senator Kohl, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Aging asked his colleagues "to put aside any partisan thoughts to work together to get this program running." They did. The result? The Medicare drug benefit that was even more unpopular than Obamacare now enjoys 90 percent support among America's seniors.

Republicans and their conservative amen corner appear to have forgotten that history, and not because they forgot to take their meds.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/04/1267237/-Six-million-lost-coverage-on-Day-One-of-Bush-Medicare-drug-program

Stop Obama from taking away your Obamacare?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024289638




Note:

Kos Media, LLC Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified

[ProSense]

1. More on

Medicare Part D (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024270235#post4) and Medicare Advantage (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024270235)

[Thinkingabout]

2. Though not perfect the ACA is a big inprovement than nothing. In states which refused to

Participate it will leave many uninsured, the attention should be placed on the state officials. it OOPS Perry in Texas is leaving office in a year and he would never do anything to help his uninsured citizens in Texas. There was also a slow rollout in Massachusetts but it has gotten better.

On Medicare part D, it paid out a year before the first prescription was dispensed.

[ProSense]

3. States like

Michigan:

Michigan's $7 Million Days

by GretchenWhitmer

After a tough and trying 2013 in which Michigan Republicans forced their half-baked agenda down our throats at every turn, 2014 should mark a fresh start in the Capitol, a time to start anew and try to move past the partisan politics and petty pursuits that were the hallmark of Michigan Republicans this past year.

But as much as I would relish a clean slate for the Michigan Legislature in 2014, we start today with a brutal hangover from 2013 that dwarfs any you might be experiencing from your New Year’s Eve festivities. While last night ended with a countdown, today began with a different one, as January 1, 2014, marks the start of a 90-day clock that, thanks to Michigan Republicans, is going to cost taxpayers a whopping $630 million. That’s $7 million A DAY, around $291,667 an hour, $4,861 a minute, and $81 a second. That’s YOUR money being wasted and it’s all because Tea Party Republicans wanted to prove some ill-conceived political point.

In August, months after its bipartisan passage in the House—and after months of Republican obstruction in the Senate—legislation to expand Medicaid in Michigan was finally passed. The proposal provides health care coverage for nearly 500,000 low-income Michigan residents and saves the state more than $600 million, and because of its combined benefits and significant cost SAVINGS, it had widespread support from Republican Governor Rick Snyder, business groups, hospitals, doctors and labor organizations.

But in another move of political grandstanding and a final kiss off to the people of Michigan, Michigan Republicans bent to the whim of Tea Party extremists and used a procedural move to delay the Medicaid expansion plan’s effective date from January 1, 2014, to April 1, 2014. Their stunt benefited no one and only succeeded in stalling health care for Michigan residents in need and costing our state $7 million every single day between January 1st and April 1st.

Does that sound like fiscal responsibility and good government to you? Is that how you think the elected officials you have entrusted with the well-being of the state should behave? I think not. And that’s why we have launched a new website, www.7milliondollardays.com, to draw attention to the ever-growing price tag of Michigan Republicans’ political games and enable YOU to get in touch with THEM to tell them what you think.

Regardless of your opinions on Medicaid expansion and health care, I hope that we can all agree that no political point is worth $630 million to prove. And I hope you will join me in telling legislative Republicans that this behavior is appalling, and more importantly, unacceptable.

<...>

Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan Senate Democratic Leader

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/01/1266443/-Michigan-s-7-Million-Days

[Thinkingabout]

4. Things like "proving" a point, cost more and for a group who complains about too

Much government spending sure knows how to waste money. How much did the shutdown cost and how much did Cruz waste with his filibuster. There could be money to fund Unemployment or infrastructure projects to provide jobs with workers paying taxes but these goofballs don't care about waste.

[ProSense]

6. Republicans are hypocrites, and

helping to improve the economy and the quality of life for the majority of Americans is irrelevant to them.

[Cha]

5. Thanks ProSense~