Song in my head: Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon.............The Fifth Dimension


Alter-Abled News

The new Medicare drug plan is a confusing piece of legislature that not even my Rep Greg Walden understands. I called his office recently while I was having difficulty getting my medications. His assistant ended up calling me and giving me incorrect information. So, when I read this article by Frank Kaiser from SuddenlySenior.com I had to post how he took the matter into his own wise hands..........

I called my Congressman's office today. I wanted to learn how he's coping with his Congressional drug plan.You see, if I sign with the new Medicare drug plan, my donut hole - the amount from $2,250 to $5,100 where there's absolutely zero drug coverage - is $2,850 out of my pocket.

I wanted to know how big my Congressman's donut hole is.

My Representative, Mike Bilirakis, as Vice-Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, was key to getting Plan D passed. His committee is the funnel through which all such bills must travel.Perhaps that's why, according to opensecrets.org, the health and pharmaceutical industries have given Mike over a million bucks in legal bribes, all part of Big Pharma's $108.6-million in Congressional payola four years back to assure that Medicare couldn't bargain drug prices. A small price to pay, , don't you think, for the $140-billion in windfall profits Plan D is expected to dole out to drug companies in the next 10 years.

But I digress.

I also wanted to find out from Mike how many drug plans he has to choose from. I figured he might have expert advice for constituents like me, baffled by the promiscuous offerings of over 40 providers here in Florida.Plus I wanted to ask how often Congressional insurance changes its drug formulary. Under Plan D, they change more often than gas pump prices in a Mideast crisis. I wondered, too, if Mike had to pay out of pocket, like we do, for drugs he needs that aren't supported by his plan.But when I called, instead of any answers, Shirley in his office asked sternly, "Why do you want to know?" I explained that just maybe Mike had a simpler, cheaper plan than that available to me, and I wondered how it worked.

Well, I've never been told so nicely that it is none of my damned business.

Read the rest here.