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Bush's New Drug Prescription Plan

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Deborah:
What about Bush?s new Prescription Drug Plan?
Here?s how it will work, in reality, for one 69 year old, single, retired, female in relatively good health. We?ll call her Livid.

First a little background.
Livid worked manual labor most of her life, earning around $12 an hour upon retirement. The ten years prior to retirement she worked twelve hours per day, six and sometimes seven days per week (mandatory), saving all she could. Livid could look forward to having every third weekend off, provided there wasn?t a crisis. Read: Sweat Shop.

When Livid retired, her assets were:
-A 950 sf home which had been paid for for a number of years- valued at $21,000 in 2001, the tax assessor now has determined her modest home to be valued at $75,000. But, that?s another story of local government and politics at play, attempting to displace many of the retired seniors who have tax exemptions and are barely making it, so they can ?revitalize? the area- bring in more affluent folks to increase the tax base and fund their annual 15% cost of living raises. Back to the assets.
-A vehicle with 250,000 miles
-$35,000 in a 401K
-$6,000 in a CD
-$16,000 in life insurance ($10,000 cash value)

That she was able to accumulate these few ?assets? speaks to her incredible frugality and resourcefulness.

Her SS check- after deductions for Medicare and a supplemental health insurance plan ($234)-  amounts to less than $700. Her annual SS increase has always been a few dollars more than the increase of the Medicare premium.

In determing eligibility for assistance, Social Security does not include the senior?s home or vehicle as assets and they generously [sic] deduct $1500 from the total assets for burial. If someone knows where Livid might be buried for $1500, we would like to know. Our estimates are more like $20.000. When seniors have cashed in their life insurance policies and exhausted their paltry 401K plans to pay for exorbitantly expensive drugs, perhaps the government will hatch a plan to have public faciliites constructed in major cities where people can have their loved ones incinerated...  for $1,500.

Livid, probably due to her life of physical labor (and good genes), is in relatively good health. Her prescription drug costs the past three years have averaged less than $100 per year.

Social Security determined a couple of years ago that she qualified for assistance in addition to her Prescription Discount Card. They deposited $600 in her account annually. This was not ?insurance?, just a drug discount program. She paid about 10% of the cost of her prescriptions. That worked well- easy and fair. We assumed that she would also qualify for at least some assistance with the new prescription drug plan. Wrong.

Even though her assets have not changed, Social Security determined that she has too many assets and therefore does not qualify for ANY assistance. If she chooses to have drug coverage under the new plan she must purchase a Part D Rx Plan, and here?s the reality of that:

$37 per month ($495 annually) for premium
She pays all of the first $250- deductible
So she has spent $695 before the insurance company pays a penny. A month?s income! And seven times more than her average annual drug expense.
From $251 up to $2,000, the insurance company pays 75%.
From $2001 up to $2,850, she?d be on her own again. Insurance pays nada.
From $2,851 up, insurance pays 95%.

Appears that Livid will simply be helping pay for other?s drugs. Here?s what one of the examples in the literature has to say about that:
?Helen, age 71, is generally in good health. She spends less than $100 each month for two prescriptions for osteoporosis drugs. With a Part D plan, Helen saves a modest amount [$20 annually] but she also has the ?comfort? of knowing drugs will be covered if she is ill.?

My advice to Helen is to cancel the insurance and take some of my friend?s Herbal Bone Tea at a fraction of the cost ?. And no side effects. But, I digress, again.

If a senior decides not to participate in the ?Plan? until some later date if/when their health fails, there will be a 1% per month penalty, after the May 15, 2006 deadline for enrollment. If one enrolls a year later, their premium would be $41.50 instead of $37, provided of course, that the premium doesn?t increase. For the healthier, lower income folks it may be in their financial interest to wait.

Government assistance is available, but one must be skid-row destitute. According to the promotional information sent by a salivating insurance company, a single person must earn less than $8,700 ($725 per month) and have assets of no more than $11,000. The government would cover premiums and deductible and the (obviously) homeless person would pay $2-3 per prescription.

If all this wasn?t bad enough?. It appears that Social Security has adopted the Texas Medical Algorithm model, or something similar. Google that term if you don?t know what it is. Consumers will have to analyze each private insurance company?s plan in order to determine if the drugs they are currently taking are in the insurance company?s ?Formulary?.

What?s a ?Formulary?? And what if you research a bazillion plans and don?t find one that covers all your drugs?
A formulary is a list of drugs a plan covers. Similar but different, based on Federal guidelines. Each insurance company will negotiate ?special prices? directly with drug companies to determine their costs. Some may have broader formularies and the ?cost sharing? could vary between companies. Doesn?t that task sound like a fun time? Suggestions from the literature:
 
-If a drug you take isn?t on the formulary, talk to your doctor about ?updating? your prescription to a drug on the list. Updating?
-A formulary-exceptions process will be available if your doctor determines that no substitute drug works for you.
-For drugs that are not covered by any plan, you always have the option to pay the full cost out of your own pocket. It will not count against your deductible.

WHO developed this new plan? WHO benefits other than target drug and insurance companies, and seniors whose drug costs are over $1000 a month? This will negatively impact millions of working class people who have ?just enough? (but not enough) to disqualify for assistance. The Discount Rx Card was a much better deal for this segment of the population. Educate your elder friends and family members. It's not a New and Better Plan, it's a Raw Deal.

Anonymous:
This is what happens when the voter's where duped into voting Republican, again.

Whoever voted Bush and his party in office should be proud of themselves!

Anonymous:
A September survey by AARP found 47% of the members it surveyed cutting back on travel and 39 percent visiting family and friends less often. Thirteen percent of the respondents even said they were offsetting high gasoline prices by eating less, and a like number were cutting back on medical care and prescriptions.

"These are lifestyle-changing prices," said James Toedtman, editor of the AARP Bulletin, in a statement.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/inv ... p?GT1=7159

Anonymous:

--- Quote ---On 2005-10-04 18:07:00, Anonymous wrote:

"This is what happens when the voter's where duped into voting Republican, again.



Whoever voted Bush and his party in office should be proud of themselves!"

--- End quote ---

Right on comrade my demoratic brotha, when Hillary gets into office the world will be a much safer and better place.God dam republicans all my troubles are all their fault.

Deborah:
Ohhhhhhhh... I get it now....

Bush Explains Medicare Drug Bill
-- Verbatim Quote

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: "I don't really understand. How is the new plan going to fix the problem?"

PRESIDENT BUSH (verbatim response): "Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are
calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to that has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for
example, benefits are calculated based upon the
increase of wages, as opposed to the increase   of
prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, supposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red."

Forward this to others -- so they, too, can understand   :rofl:

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