Listen up Kossacks. People need help with this Medicare drug scam. It is barreling down the highway and will hit you, or someone you love within the next several weeks.
Equally important, follow the money! If you want to start winning elections, you better recognize that this is likely a program designed to siphon enormous sums of money and put it directly in the coffers of some of the largest contributors to the Republican party, the drug companies.
For starters however, there's the human angle. I did a diary yesterday that got lots of impassioned responses, but I am no expert, I'm just trying to sort this out for my mother.
This is a link for that diary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/4/92251/2764
Could we please get this diary recommended? Lots of our fellow Kossacks, many of whom (myself included) depend on the collective wisdom and expertise of all of you for practical assistance, need your input right now. This Medicare thing is one of Mr. Bush's finest curve balls, and it is aimed once again, squarely between the eyes of our most vulnerable citizens.
More under the fold.
In addition, I think we need an expert to start a regular Kos series examining the Medicare Drug Scam a la the Jerome a Paris series on energy. The tentacles are going to go in a million directions and we could really use some professional guidance.
Trust me, this issue is not going away. It's also going to get downright ugly once the scandals hit, and trust me again, there gonna hit as hard as Katrina. There are huge bucks involved and I already hear a big sucking sound pulling the money away from the seniors and into the pockets of the Republican corruption machine.
In the meantime, seniors are facing real and urgent questions with significant consequences. It was clear from the questions and answers yesterday that many people have decisions which they need help addressing in the near term.
Several important issues came up yesterday. For example:
- The complexity of the drug benefit is forcing many seniors to retain outside experts to assist them in making daunting choices. Some with means, are even hiring lawyers. This is not good.
- If a senior fails to select a Medicare prescription drug program according to the government timetable the finnacial penalties are "draconian." This is what eafredel a Kossack who is an employee benefits lawyer, explained yesterday.
- It seems without doubt, the "benefit" was designed to confuse, intmidate and bewilder.My question is, why? My sense is that the Republicans are hoping this becomes like a welfare program which will really only serve the poor and of course put huge amounts of money into the pockets of some of the biggest Republican donors, the pharmauceutical industry.
- Will the government herd seniors who contact Medicare for advice into prescription drug programs which will restrict them to a handful of drugs which may or may not be appropriate? This link is for Medicare assistance, but it is from the official Medicare government web site.
http://www.medicare.gov/contacts/static/allStateContacts.asp
One of the great lessons of Katrina was that we have a government that does not believe in assisting the most vulnerable among us. Now we have the spectre of these same people presiding over what they are calling the greatest expansion of an entitlement in 50 years.
The Medicare drug benefit may be shaping up to be the final ingredient in the perfect storm.