Social security and medicare

[VJW]

UPDATE:

The administration’s private-sector drug program is looking worse and worse, and more of a bad deal for MOST seniors. The following is excerpted from an e-mail I was forwarded:


If your medication costs are less than $5,100 annually, did you know that you may pay less at the XXXXXXXXXX pharmacy than with Medicare Part D?

According to a November 2005 report for the U.S. House Government Reform Committee, average drug prices offered by ten leading Medicare D drug programs are in fact higher on average than XXXXXXXXXX pharmacy prices.

For many seniors, the XXXXXXXXXX pharmacy may be a better choice than Medicare Part D:

* Our prices are lower on average than those of many Medicare Part D programs. Check our prices: http://www.XXXXXXXXXX.com/

* The majority of Medicare Part D programs have premiums, copays, and deductibles.

* Medicare Part D programs may not cover all of your medications.

* Medicare Part D has a "doughnut hole" -- it doesn't cover any prescription costs between $2,250 and $5,100.


Now just how is it that a small private company can offer better prices for medications to the vast majority of seniors (most seniors spend less than $5,100/annually), without the $700 BILLION subsidy from the federal government ?

This administration’s so-called ‘Medicare Part D’ is in reality just another Corporate Welfare pig with a little lipstick put on to make it look like they are attempting to help seniors.

This is beyond sad, this is an outrage.

#

[jmjj215]

Who wrote the original email?

[VJW]

Well, I didn’t want to name the company, as it might be considered a referral, and I’m not sure what the policy of the board is on such matters.

#

[jmjj215]

It just sounds kind of hokey to me that's all. It kind of sounded like the company itself had written it so it could advertise its lower prices or something...

[VJW]

Ah, it was from the company to someone I know. That’s why I used XXXXX for the name. It is an advert comparing their prices to those in the House Government Reform Committee report.

#

[jmjj215]

Ah - all making sense now

[VJW]

Originally Posted by CRFSaver

While I haveno clue how the prescription plans work as that is covered through my work, I have never been a big fan of private accounts for social security.

With good reason:

Chile's Candidates Agree to Agree on Pension Woes

SANTIAGO, Chile, Jan. 9 - Michelle Bachelet is a pediatrician and a Socialist, while Sebastián Piñera is a billionaire businessman and a conservative. They may agree on little as the opposing candidates in Chile's election for president, but they concur on one important point: the country's much vaunted and much copied privatized pension system needs immediate repair.

The Chilean system of personalized accounts managed by private funds has inspired a score of other countries since the pioneer effort to create it here 25 years ago. It is endorsed by President Bush, who has called it "a great example" from which the United States can "take some lessons." Here at home, though, dissatisfaction with the system has emerged as one of the hot-button issues in the election, a runoff that will take place on Sunday.

Other studies, including one conducted by the World Bank, indicate that pension funds retain between a quarter and a third of workers' contributions in the form of commissions, insurance and other administrative fees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/in...l?pagewanted=1

#

[VJW]

UPDATE: Failed Prescription Drug Program

STATES TAKE ACTION AS ADMINISTRATION PLAN FALTERS

(AP) – Arkansas and Illinois have joined about half a dozen other states taking emergency measures to help residents struggling to get prescriptions filled under the new Medicare drug program.

Illinois officials sent notices to pharmacies Wednesday detailing where to call if Medicare patients can't get medicine. If the problem can't be resolved by phone, pharmacists will be allowed to bill the state for the cost of the drugs, officials said. Rhode Island officials also said they plan to launch an emergency program.

In some case, people who enrolled in plans have discovered they aren't listed as participating when pharmacies check their computers. Other beneficiaries found they were listed as owing a $250 deductible when they should have been paying only a few dollars per prescription.

Earlier this week, New Hampshire authorized up to $500,000 for payments to pharmacists who give a 10-day supply of drugs to people having trouble getting their medicines. South Dakota started allowing people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid to get a 30-day supply of medicine.

Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and North Dakota had already announced plans to help low-income residents get their medicine if pharmacists were having trouble confirming coverage through the new Medicare benefit.

#

[jmjj215]

Most of the time I read what the NY times writes with a bit of skepticism. That paper is so biased it's not even funny.

[cercis]

Jesse, can you name a few sources which are not biased? Just so we know ...

[jmjj215]

Originally Posted by cercis

Jesse, can you name a few sources which are not biased? Just so we know ...

Not off the top of my head. That was my point though - seriously - who do you believe these days? Both sides spin stuff so much it's hard to know who to believe.

[jmjj215]

I should mention though that some definitely are worse than others

[cercis]

I find NPR to be scrupulous about presenting both sides of the coin. And I know this to be true because half the time I find myself thinking they're as conservative and fox news.

[VJW]

Originally Posted by jmjj215

Most of the time I read what the NY times writes with a bit of skepticism. That paper is so biased it's not even funny.

I find the charge of “bias” rather strange given that the story is filled with so many quotes, and that it mirrors the coverage of both the presidential race and the issue of the failed pension system so beloved by the RightWing as presented in the Chilean news.

#

[katwoman]

Similar article was on the front page of yesterday's Chicago Trib. And that is a conservative paper.

[Optsol]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

Are you relying on SS and Medicare for your retirement years?

Key word for me is "rely". Taking that literally -- no way. I'm certainly not writing it off as a black hole, but I'm certianly not betting on SS keeping the house lights on.

I would like to see some privitization on new money moving forward, but I can also see both sides of the argument. Good for me, not necessarily good for everyone though.

It's somewhat pointless to argue program solvency (looking forward 30 years and saying it's fine, or saying it's kaput). All we know are the demographics of that time. Not payout rates, gdp, tax rates, inflation, medical cures, medical costs, etc...

[jmjj215]

Originally Posted by VJW

I find the charge of “bias” rather strange given that the story is filled with so many quotes, and that it mirrors the coverage of both the presidential race and the issue of the failed pension system so beloved by the RightWing as presented in the Chilean news.

#

I'm not making an accusation or speaking to this particular article, but I've been quoted before where what I said was not what I said. And please don't try and tell me the NY times is not biased. I take what most media says with extreme skepticism anyway. They'll do anything to sell a story - they want sensationalism so they can get readers. I've had far too much personal experience with the media and my family to believe otherwise.

[VJW]

Glad you admit it’s a belief.

#

[VJW]

UNMITIGATED DISASTER INDEED !


Medicare's Botched Drug Benefit Roll-Out

Medicare's $728 billion prescription-drug program was supposed to bring relief to seniors and subsidize our country's neediest beneficiaries. There would be a ''seamless transition,'' to the new program for low-income seniors, promised Mark McClellan, chief of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The actual roll-out has been an unmitigated disaster.

Many of the sickest and poorest beneficiaries nationwide are going without life-sustaining medication because of program failures, misinformation and confusion. The federal government has botched the roll-out of one of the most-expensive entitlement programs ever, and the frail elderly are paying the price in pain, aggravation and tears.

How bad is it? Consider that 20 states have intervened to subsidize drugs for low-income beneficiaries who can't get their prescriptions covered under the new program. Florida should join the effort. Otherwise, poor seniors will be left out on a limb by the Medicare program until the crisis is resolved.

MORE HERE

#

[sweeps]

VJW, you're the poster boy for Social Security. If the federal government can mess up Medicare so badly, what makes you think that they wouldn't do the same thing to Social Security?