Editorials, Opinion Piece, Letter Respond To Medicare Drug Benefit
Billings Gazette: In Yellowstone County, Mont., nearly "1,400 [residents] have been on a waiting list for help from the Yellowstone County Council on Aging for choosing among 42 private insurance plans" for drug coverage, and hospitals "are deluged with requests for counseling on the new Medicare prescription drug plans," a Gazette editorial says. Locals also "have found the Medicare Web site distinctly unfriendly," and the program's informational sessions have not been useful to seniors, according to the editorial. The editorial says that because of such issues, the enrollment deadline should be extended by "at least six months" (Billings Gazette, 2/9).
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle: The "system can't handle and the country can't afford" the Medicare drug benefit, "a mistake from the first day it was proposed," a Democrat & Chronicle editorial says. Congress "should extend the enrollment deadline for the benefit from May 15 to Jan. 1, 2007," because a May deadline is "wholly impractical" with the current problems (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 2/10).
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "As the deadline [to enroll in the drug benefit program] gets closer, Congress and the administration must work in bipartisan fashion to make this process more fair for all seniors," a Post-Intelligencer editorial states (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2/9).
Opinion Piece
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Billings Gazette: "While the benefits to low-income Medicare enrollees are beyond dispute, for seniors with higher incomes or significant assets, the waters begin to muddy," with the drug benefit, Burns writes in a Gazette opinion piece. For seniors who do not currently have prescription drug coverage, the plan is a "good deal," he adds. "Even if [seniors] don't take many or any prescription drugs, [they] should consider enrolling" because "there will be a 1% premium increase for every month [seniors] wait to sign up" (Burns, Billings Gazette, 2/10).
Letter to the Editor
Former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), Washington Post: The Medicare drug benefit has "been in effect barely a month [and the] transition is not without problems, but it is not the disaster that [it has been] described," Breaux, chair of the Medicare Rx Education Network, writes in a letter to the editor of the Post. He says that "[m]ost people are getting their prescriptions. In fact, more than one million prescriptions are being filled every day under the program." In addition, "[m]ore than 3.6 million people have signed up for the drug benefit, and 20,000 more are enrolling daily online," Breaux writes, concluding that the drug benefit "needs a chance" because it "has the potential to save lives" (Breaux, Washington Post, 2/10).
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Editoriale, bucata de aviz, scrisoare de rãspuns la Medicare beneficia de droguri - Editorials, Opinion Piece, Letter Respond To Medicare Drug Benefit - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate