The new Medicare program sounds like the same disorganized mess that Team Bush churns out everywhere with just about everything they do. No wonder Iraq is such a mess and New Orleans was left to fend for itself. If it's not related to padding the pockets of rich campaign donors, forget about anything working out well. Why does the GOP hate old and poor people?
Computer glitches, overloaded telephone lines and poorly trained pharmacists are being blamed for mix-ups that have resulted in the worst of unintended consequences: As many as 6.4 million low-income seniors, who until Dec. 31 received their medications free, suddenly find themselves navigating an insurance maze of large deductibles, co-payments and outright denial of coverage.
"This new prescription drug plan was supposed to be a voluntary program to help people who didn't have coverage," said Jeanne Finberg, a lawyer for the National Senior Citizens Law Center. "All this is doing is harming the people who had coverage -- America's most vulnerable citizens."
"The first week was pure hell," said Mike Souders, owner of Metropolis Drugs in southern Illinois. Computer systems crashed, phone lines were jammed, and there was no way for him to confirm that patients were covered.
"In 2000, for Y2K, we were practicing running systems for a year," he said, referring to computer preparations for the coming of the new millennium. "They started this up cold turkey."
