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I just spent the whole freekin day in the ER with my mother. Long story, doctor prescribed a drug she needs to save her life. We had to wait for APPROVAL from the Medicare part D coverage provider. I told them that we would buy the meds ourselves rather than let our mother die of this infection.

So just now, I got a phone call from the insurance company, telling me that I could go get the medicine because it’s been approved!

I got a great deal of satisfaction from telling the lady, TWICE, that I don’t wait for an insurance company to tell me it’s OK before I do what a doctor says.

This is one of the things I’m still mad at President Bush about, this stupid drug plan. Before this plan was forced on her, my mother got most of her medicine for FREE from the drug companies. Now it’s more than she can afford with the premiums and the cost of co-pays.

My mother is in NO WAY happy about this mandated coverage she has to buy. Just in case anyone wonders, I think most seniors don’t like it and wouldn’t be offended if a politician spoke out against stuff like this.

Go after Romney on this entitlement stuff, Mrs. Bachmann. It would be so good for me to hear.

I feel for you and your mom. Frustrating to the max. It looks like Parts A and B are mandatory but there's no requirement to sign up for C and D. D is the prescriptions, and if you need regular meds, it's probably a good idea to sign up (except you said she got help from the drug companies, and I think that's probably still an option). One size doesn't fit all, and the whole business is totally confusing.

Maybe the particular plan your mom is enrolled in is required to carry C and D; there are so many different ones to sort through.

My part D premium (prescriptions) was 130.80 for 2010 so I come out ahead by signing up for it and paying the co-pays even though one isn't covered.

I'm not sure what Part A is anyway. At the end of the year, I get a 1099 which breaks down direct deposits, B, C, and D but no A on it. I decided I'd better not take the risk of not carrying all the supplements, looks like there's an N, too, don't know what that's about.

I thought about dropping all the ones that aren't mandatory so my monthly deposit would be higher but decided it wasn't worth the risk.

When Romneycare first started in MA, you had the choice of NOT buying Prescription Drug Coverage. That was fine with us; we didn't require much in the way of meds, anyway, and the ones we did need had generic alternatives.

In the second year, the Democrats in the MA legislature decided that EVERYONE should have drug coverage, so they made it mandatory. Now the State agency that handles insurance told us that there were some companies that sold insurance without the meds coverage, but I called every single one of them, and NONE offered such coverage. They all said they were not allowed to, by law!

So the Democrat nanny staters decided they knew better, and it cost every family who had bought insurance an additional $3000-6000 every year, before any drugs have even been purchased! It's ridiculous!