Monday, May 17, 2004
Both my computer and I are infected with a virus: I cough; it reboots whenever I go online. It’s a struggle to think at all, let alone deal with this new Medicare drug discount card program.
I tried to use their website, www.Medicare.com, to get drug prices. I ran into two problems right away, only one of which I resolved — with some creative effort on my part. The online process is fairly straightforward, but considering I only use two medicines and there were errors in their database for both, not exactly trustworthy. For one drug the generic alternative was so far off base that if a busy bulk mail order pharmacy actually sent it, the substitution might just stop my heart — permanently. (I’m in the process of getting Medicare to respond to the errors.)
This got me to thinking about how unkind this program is to the old, the sick and the frail. Seventy-three pharmacy plans bought into the program, any or all of which can change their prices at any time. The senior, however, can only change
programs annually. The New York Times addressed the confusion in their article of May 12, 2004: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/5/12/national/12medicare.html Who is this benefitting, again? I spent nearly forty years in hospital work, the last twenty in a busy ER, and I can tell you a lot of seniors take a bushel basket of medicines just to stay alive; how anyone that ill can figure out which of the 73 plans is to their advantage, I don’t know.
Seems to me figuring out which card to buy — or even if it's worthwhile — is a whole lot harder than debugging my computer or getting over this common cold. Impossible, in fact.
I tried to use their website, www.Medicare.com, to get drug prices. I ran into two problems right away, only one of which I resolved — with some creative effort on my part. The online process is fairly straightforward, but considering I only use two medicines and there were errors in their database for both, not exactly trustworthy. For one drug the generic alternative was so far off base that if a busy bulk mail order pharmacy actually sent it, the substitution might just stop my heart — permanently. (I’m in the process of getting Medicare to respond to the errors.)
This got me to thinking about how unkind this program is to the old, the sick and the frail. Seventy-three pharmacy plans bought into the program, any or all of which can change their prices at any time. The senior, however, can only change
programs annually. The New York Times addressed the confusion in their article of May 12, 2004: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/5/12/national/12medicare.html Who is this benefitting, again? I spent nearly forty years in hospital work, the last twenty in a busy ER, and I can tell you a lot of seniors take a bushel basket of medicines just to stay alive; how anyone that ill can figure out which of the 73 plans is to their advantage, I don’t know.
Seems to me figuring out which card to buy — or even if it's worthwhile — is a whole lot harder than debugging my computer or getting over this common cold. Impossible, in fact.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Our President Speaks
Are we proud of our leaders in the White House?
Does the president's State Of the Union message inspire us or make us confident that we are on the right tract in the Middle East?
I for one do not think so.
As the Commander-in-Chief, our president should be able to articulate plans and goals that we are pursuing. Instead we hear generalities. We hear comments but not specifics to the questions that were asked by the news media.
Does anyone feel good after hearing last night's broadcast?
Gerry
Are we proud of our leaders in the White House?
Does the president's State Of the Union message inspire us or make us confident that we are on the right tract in the Middle East?
I for one do not think so.
As the Commander-in-Chief, our president should be able to articulate plans and goals that we are pursuing. Instead we hear generalities. We hear comments but not specifics to the questions that were asked by the news media.
Does anyone feel good after hearing last night's broadcast?
Gerry
