wat dana....r u drinkin the kool-aid?
Eric W Rudd
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; quad-list@eskimo.com
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 8:34 PM
Subject: [QUAD-L] Re: Medicare Racketeers
Bad news for persons with disabilities and elderly.
In July 1, doctors will get a 10 percent payment cut, a disaster for both
patients and doctors that the bill would have averted. None of the senators'
excuses for this vote hold water:
The bill was a partisan exercise. Not so. The bill passed 355 to 59, a
veto-proof majority, in the House of Representatives. More Republicans voted
for HR. 6331 than against it.
President Bush would have vetoed it anyway. So what? If enough Republican
senators put the interests of people with Medicare ahead of their loyalty to
President Bush, there would have been enough votes to override a veto in the
Senate.
Senators will be back home attending fundraisers and marching in Independence
Day parades. We need to tell them to show a little more independence from
President Bush and a little more backbone to the insurance company lobbyists.
Medicare belongs to the American people. It is not a racket for the insurance
industry.
Asclepios
Your Weekly Medicare Consumer Advocacy Update
Medicare Racketeers
June 27, 2008; Volume 8, Issue 26
The Medicare bill defeated in the Senate last night would have improved
coverage for mental health and preventive services and helped pay medical and
drug costs for more people with Medicare living on fixed incomes. The Bush
administration objected to these improvements, which were paid for with a
modest cut to some of the excessive subsidies Medicare pays to insurance
companies. Administration officials opposed this reduction in subsidies, they
claim, because it would result in reduced benefits for people with Medicare
enrolled in private health plans offered by these companies.
Translation: No one gets better Medicare benefits unless our pals in the
insurance industry get a cut off the top.
It's as if the Medicare program had been taken over by Mafia goons.
Numerous independent, nonpartisan studies have shown it cost taxpayers
substantially more—about $1,000 a head, according to one study—to provide
coverage through a Medicare private health plan instead of through Original
Medicare.
Just this week, the Government Accountability Office reported that, in 2005,
insurance companies pocketed as profit $1.14 billion in subsidies that the
companies had told Medicare would go toward medical benefits.
Last night, 39 Republican senators joined President Bush in opposing HR.
6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act. As a result,
the benefit improvements in HR. 6331 will not take effect, and on July 1,
doctors will get a 10 percent payment cut, a disaster for both patients and
doctors that the bill would have averted. None of the senators' excuses for
this vote hold water:
The bill was a partisan exercise. Not so. The bill passed 355 to 59, a
veto-proof majority, in the House of Representatives. More Republicans voted
for HR. 6331 than against it.
President Bush would have vetoed it anyway. So what? If enough Republican
senators put the interests of people with Medicare ahead of their loyalty to
President Bush, there would have been enough votes to override a veto in the
Senate.
Next week, these senators will be back home attending fundraisers and
marching in Independence Day parades. We need to tell them to show a little
more independence from President Bush and a little more backbone to the
insurance company lobbyists. Medicare belongs to the American people. It is not
a racket for the insurance industry.
Medical Record
Senate vote to invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed on HR. 6331 fell short
of the 60 votes needed. Yea votes indicate support for passage of HR. 6331. No
votes indicate opposition. Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada,
voted No to preserve the right to bring the bill up for a vote again (Roll Call
vote on HR. 6331
(http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hhKWI5OFLdIPKcJ&s=qtJ3JcMJJbKWJ7MSF&m=guKSIaMVKkL2F&af=y),
June 2008).
"On average, [Medicare Advantage] organizations' self-reported actual profit
margin was 5.1 percent of total revenue, which is approximately $1.14 billion
more in profits in 2005 than [Medicare Advantage] organizations projected"
("Medicare Advantage Organizations: Actual Expenses and Profits Compared to
Projections for 2005
(http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=kkI2JePRKgLWImI&s=qtJ3JcMJJbKWJ7MSF&m=guKSIaMVKkL2F&af=y),"
Government Accountability Office, June 2008).
"I am an elder advocate with an Area Agency on Aging. Even though several
Medicare Advantage plans, including four PFFS plans, are listed as plans
accepted in our county, that is actually not the case. Once a beneficiary
enrolls in one of these Advantage plans, they find out that providers in this
county actually do not accept the plans. If the beneficiary cannot see a
provider in this county, they are forced to leave the county to find providers.
Some have to drive 50, 100 and 200 miles to see a provider, or get their
prescriptions, because there are no providers in our county who will accept
their plan. Many of these elderly people can't drive because they have poor
eyesight, dementia, etc. These elderly beneficiaries come to our Area Agency on
Aging to get out of these Medicare Advantage plans because the local hospital
and their doctors will not accept the plans" (Story submitted to the Private
Health Plan Monitoring Project
(http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ddJOKTNpE9KJK2L&s=qtJ3JcMJJbKWJ7MSF&m=guKSIaMVKkL2F&af=y)
from Spencer, Iowa, Medicare Rights Center, April 2007).
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