Bush Urges Elderly to Explore Drug Plan

AP via Yahoo News ^ | 03/14/06 | Jennifer Loven

[OldFriend]

And if your grandson ever has a less than perfect day, no doubt that will be Bush's fault too!!!! /s/

[Herford Turley]

No, OldFriend. Not you. My back hurts. Get off!

:-) Hehehe!

[billbears]

You will be when the costs of this start adding up. As I've stated, it is so refreshing to see Republicans returning to their roots of big government. Cradle to grave, the government taking care of us, how 'conservative'....

[OldFriend]

Fact is that many of the drug companies immediately lowered the price of their medications as a result of this new benefit.

This plan allows for preventive medicine which in the long run will save the government money. People getting checkups will be able to learn if they have high blood pressure or diabetes before it's a real health issue.

Medication and nutrition advice is a lot cheaper than hospitalization in the long run.

[Chena]

Why, of course! ;)

[Reagan Man]

Fact is, Bush`s new trillion dollar Medicare PDP, is pure liberal socialism. Period.

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."
-- Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party presidential candidate and one of the founders of the ACLU.

[Supernatural]

While on the telephone with the people from the insurance companies, I was told that there were many, many errors caused by the "Medicare Part D" program that they were trying to straighten out, most caused by the Medicare people themselves.

[coldoc]

I hear what you say! As I pass by the folks in my mother's Nursing Home, I see quite a few that would be "confused". Some have Alzheimer's or Senile Dementia, while others are happy to just operate on at a lower level and trust that things will take care of themselves.

Just like we make decisions on behalf of our children (immunizations, schools to attend, clothes, what they eat, etc) I find I have had to make the same sort of decisions for my mother as she got older. She is "forgetful". I have accepted this responsibility for my mother, but I worry about all those others I see at the Nursing Home that might not have anyone to "help".

This is the part of the program that I would fault. It doesn't take into account the cognitive handicaps we all-to-often see in the aged who need this program the most. In my first post, I pointed out how easy the process was... for me. I forgot about those who might not be working at the same level of cognition that I am.

What bothered me the most initially, was the TOTAL lack of "help" for me from the Nursing Home professional staff! They all played dumb until I had made a pest of myself, then they started referring me to someone they considered an "expert". I started doing face-to-face meetings until I found someone who would answer my questions. This person was at the pharmacy who supplied Mom's medications! Once I got a list of the "plans" they supported, it was like going downhill on a roller coaster! EASY!!!

[Herford Turley]

Cradle to grave, the government taking care of us, how 'conservative'...

I want my entitlement and I want it now!!!!!!!

I don't care if my grandchildren work sixty hours per week because they're over taxed. I want it now!!!!!!!!

:-)

[OldFriend]

Medicare and/or Medicade is here and it's not going away.

We can hope to mitigate the costs by doing preventive medicine or we can pay triple the amount later.

Do you do any preventive maintenance on your home or car? Do you wait till you're broken down on the road and then wonder what went wrong?

Checkups can make the difference between a minor adjustment or a major repair.

Choose!

[Herford Turley]

Do you do any preventive maintenance on your home or car? Do you wait till you're broken down on the road and then wonder what went wrong?

If we're going to go down that road, then the prescription drug program, Medicare, Medicade and Social Security are like throwing money at a lemon. It doesn't work. Eventually, you have to get a new car.

[Herford Turley]

we can pay triple the amount later.

This is going to happen anyway. The more government gets involved the more prices are going to go up. Why? Because government will start mandating what's covered and what's not. It all starts out innocently, but then gets added on and on and on and never ends.

It's the closest thing to eternal life, government. And this is a government program. One that is sure to grown beyond your wildest expectations. One that will leave my grandchildren paupers after the taxman gets it all to pay for my prescription drugs, Social Security. No thank you.

Give me the market. Spur competition and we'll have competitive prices. But these kinds of issues are emotional and tend to lead to the belief that healthcare is a right.

[nonkultur]

I am on Medicare and Medicaid. It took a month for the drug plan to be effective, but that is my only complaint. My 8 prescriptions with a retail of about $700 cost me $22 this month.

[OldFriend]

So the fact that the drug companies have lowered their prices is a little fact that you choose to ignore to promote your theory?

[Stellar Dendrite]

great post, as usual RM.

"We cannot expect the Americans to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of Socialism, until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism."
- Nikita Kruschev

so what say you, RM...is this prescription drug plan a "small" dose of socialism? LOL!

[Stellar Dendrite]

ping

[DTogo]

Yes, Mort Kondracke was lauding the plan last night on FNC's Special Report, Fred Barnes was applauding Mort's research and personal experience with the program, then Mara Liasson tried to poo-poo it with some lame statement I forgot.

If Bush had a PR team worth a darn, which he doesn't, he could make a lot of political hay with this.

[Stellar Dendrite]

"Like FDR`s Social Security program and LBJ`s Medicare program, GWB`s new trillion dollar Prescription Drug Program is more liberal social engineering. Plain and simple. Another bureaucratic blunder. We don't need more government, we need less government. Limited government is a key part of the conservative agenda. More expansion of government is not part of any conservative policy."


exactly. but this program is "wonderful" because someone with an (R) next to their name pushed it. gee, wonder what they'd say if someone with a (D) next to their name was the promoter?

[ErnBatavia]

Right at the end of the year, I got my parents (92 and 85) signed up...it was borderline, since neither's annual drug costs exceeded 2000 bucks, but we proceeded anyhow.

Things did change a bit though, with a new prescription for an Alzheimer's drug for my mother - the cost saving under the plan for this one 90 day supply equaled her entire annual premium (Blue Cross Gold Plan, with no deductible, at $35 a month).

The signup process was horrible for me though - could only do it by phone and it took me between 6 and 8 hours to get thru and get it accomplished.

[Wolfie]

"They's givin' away free stuff!"