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Since this letter was written so clearly, I thought I would share it here, for others to read and forward to clear up some of the nonsense being put on the TV and the internet about it. I have looked at the legislation it cites, and beleive the contents to be accurate. You may want to double check the legislation and the numbers before you copy, forward or post to another thread.

The evidence it cites is primarily correct, however, every single article I've seen written about the legislation also mentions that over $70 billion will be paid to companies currently providing retiree prescription benefits in order to encourage them NOT to drop their existing coverage. In other words, we are bribing companies to honor their existing retiree contracts.

It is widely believed the numbers crunchers will look at the $$ they receive from the government vs. the cost of their current coverage and will drop the coverage anyway.

MANY retirees have excellent prescription drug benefits, according to the articles, and they worry this benefit will actually cost them more $$ considering that Medicare coverage gets dropped after a certain level only to be picked up again after the individual pays thousands of dollars of out of pocket expenses.

The devil is in the details.

For average Seniors (those above the poverty level percentage adjustments--roughly around $13,000 for individual), the overall benefit from this boondoggle pig in a poke bill is that Seniors end up saving only about 25% of their drug bill. The monthly premium hasn't been determined yet--but "may" be around $35 per month. The yearly deductible is around $280. There is a gap in coverage for about $1500 which all comes out of pocket.

Considering that many prescriptions run well over $100 per month, that isn't a great savings. Also, the legislation prohibits negotiating with drug companies for better prices. Thus, the drug companies can raise prices at will to get back that 25%.

The final result is a convoluted bill that provides tremendous benefits to drug companies and insurance companies but provides little real relief to Seniors.

This bill has already exceeded cost estimates by almost 1/3. Ironically, some prescription drug cards already available to Seniors cost much less than the $35 per month and some provide 15 to 20% savings already.

No, this boondoggle bill was a pay-off to drugs and insurance companies. It does not provide any significant or substantial benefit to Seniors. But every one gets to pay the taxes to pay for the drug and insurance companies' support. They, the drug and insurance companies, like the bill; and why not? They wrote it in a closed conference that the Pubbie leadership barred the Democrats from attending. Interesting, huh?