Heck of a job, Marky...Bush helps McClellan's brother with Medicare fiasco

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

With tens of thousands of people unable to get medicines promised by Medicare, the Bush administration has told insurers that they must provide a 30-day supply of any drug that a beneficiary was previously taking, and it said that poor people must not be charged more than $5 for a covered drug. The actions came after several states declared public health emergencies, and many states announced that they would step in to pay for prescriptions that should have been covered by the federal Medicare program.

Republicans have joined Democrats in asserting that the federal government botched the beginning of the prescription drug program, which started on Jan. 1. People who had signed up for coverage found that they were not on the government's list of subscribers. Insurers said they had no way to identify poor people entitled to extra help with their drug costs. Pharmacists spent hours on the telephone trying to reach insurance companies that administer the drug benefit under contract to Medicare. Many of the problems involve low-income people entitled to both Medicare and Medicaid.

In a directive sent to all Medicare drug plans over the weekend, the Bush administration said they "must take immediate steps" to ensure that low-income beneficiaries were not charged more than $2 for a generic drug and $5 for a brand-name drug. In addition, it said insurers must cover a 30-day emergency supply of drugs that beneficiaries were taking prior to the start of the new program.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said that "several hundred thousand beneficiaries who switched plans" in December may have had difficulty filling prescriptions in the last two weeks. In California, officials estimate that 200,000 of the state's 1.1 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries had trouble getting their medications. Despite these problems, Dr. McClellan said, Medicare is now covering one million prescriptions a day. With the latest corrective actions, he said, "all beneficiaries should be able to get their prescriptions filled."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/politics/16drug.html

From the White House Web Site, June 2005:

President Discusses New Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit



President George W. Bush greets Mark McClellan, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, after speaking on Medicare at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Thursday, June 16, 2005. White House photo by Eric Draper

[Tesla]

1. Are the McClellan's trying to be the New Dynasty???

Ther is one around every turn!!

[orwell]

2. Mission Acomplished!...n/t

[fasttense]

3. What a bunch of bozos

The brush regime couldn't pass a test for Wal-Mart store managers let alone implement a convoluted nation wide drug program. Did we really think the brush administration had anybody who was capable of looking at facts and making rational plans and strategies based on them? Hell, they can't even admit there is such a thing as reality, how the hell did anyone expect them to manage it?

When you live in La-La Land it is hard to manage a real country.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. If one person dies because they couldn't get their meds....

their family should sue Bush. Even if it is thrown out, it will let folks know that what he did is criminal.

[babylonsister]

5. Sadly, I'll bet it's already happened. nt