Justifying a Disaster
Dear editor:
Representative Bill Thomas (R-CA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and architect of the Medicare Drug Plan, in an interview, defended the mess that seniors find themselves in trying to understand the dizzying array of 40 or more drug plans, with different premiums, co-payments and lists of covered drugs.
Having spent the better part of a week phoning, emailing, reading, and trying to find the best plan for me, I am utterly confused as to which plan is best for my needs. Seniors have been left with a mess that is a complex hybrid; a melding of government and private markets requiring intricate coordination among insurers, beneficiaries, and state and federal agencies. It is something like buying a car. No matter how good a deal you think you wound up with, you know in your heart you received the short end of the stick.
And how does Rep. Thomas justify this program? He has stated that “We got the bill we could get.” This is the same idiocy and justification that Sect. Rumsfeld spouted when he made the statement, “You go to war with the army you have.” The cost in human suffering in both cases is inexcusable.
President Bush, when running for office in 2004, extolled the virtues of this plan that was to be one of the hallmarks of his presidency. But it is such a disaster for those on Medicare, and such a huge gift and moneymaker for the drug industry, that he didn’t once mention it in his 52 minute State of the Union speech.
Representative Bill Thomas (R-CA), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and architect of the Medicare Drug Plan, in an interview, defended the mess that seniors find themselves in trying to understand the dizzying array of 40 or more drug plans, with different premiums, co-payments and lists of covered drugs.
Having spent the better part of a week phoning, emailing, reading, and trying to find the best plan for me, I am utterly confused as to which plan is best for my needs. Seniors have been left with a mess that is a complex hybrid; a melding of government and private markets requiring intricate coordination among insurers, beneficiaries, and state and federal agencies. It is something like buying a car. No matter how good a deal you think you wound up with, you know in your heart you received the short end of the stick.
And how does Rep. Thomas justify this program? He has stated that “We got the bill we could get.” This is the same idiocy and justification that Sect. Rumsfeld spouted when he made the statement, “You go to war with the army you have.” The cost in human suffering in both cases is inexcusable.
President Bush, when running for office in 2004, extolled the virtues of this plan that was to be one of the hallmarks of his presidency. But it is such a disaster for those on Medicare, and such a huge gift and moneymaker for the drug industry, that he didn’t once mention it in his 52 minute State of the Union speech.
posted by Sam Schoolsky | 4:35 AM
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