The federal government will not repay states that are making emergency purchases for hundreds of thousands of poor, sick people whose new Medicare prescription-drug coverage is not yet working, Medicare officials say.
Instead, those states must recoup the money from the private plans that began providing drug coverage Jan. 1 on behalf of Medicare.
Medicare administrator Mark McClellan said the new Medicare legislation was clear: ``Under this program, we don't have the authority to pay states directly. People are in Medicare drug plans, and it's the Medicare plans that are supposed to pay for the medications.''
That could create an administrative nightmare for states such as California that stepped up to safeguard the health of low-income elderly and disabled people whose Medicare coverage has not materialized because of administrative problems and poor planning by Medicare officials.
You know what will be the result of this don't you? It means that pharmacies will no longer be willing to front the meds to the patients who are still trying to wade through the red tape. So then the elderly will not get their medication and then what? Do they just get sicker and sicker until they are hospitalized or die? Is the final goal of this Bush program to kill off the recipients, thereby lowering the cost of the program by reducing the number using the program? Is this cost savings through attrition?
I cannot imagine why some people call this administration heartless! They seem so reasonable!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.