CNN: Deadline for Medicare drug plan looms

Deadline for Medicare drug plan looms
Leavitt urges remaining 5 million eligible Americans to sign up
Sunday, May 14, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Operators are standing by to help the estimated 5 million eligible Americans who have not enrolled in Medicare's prescription drug benefit program, the Health and Human Services secretary said Sunday.

The process can be completed in a phone call to Medicare's customer service line, with information from the Medicare card and pill bottles, secretary Mike Leavitt told CNN.

Seniors who sign up after the midnight Monday deadline face a 1 percent penalty per month unless they are deemed eligible for a low-income benefit program.

President Bush has rejected calls to extend the deadline, and Leavitt said he supported that decision....

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About 37 million of the estimated 42 million seniors eligible for the drug benefit have already signed up, Leavitt said....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/05/14/medicare.drugs/index.html

What an achievement!

Let's penalize the old folks with their Medicare while we give more tax breaks to the wealthy....how is this for compassionate conservatism?

Because DUMBFUCKS vote REPUBLICAN!

...but mainly because I have the thankless job of being the Medicare advisor where I work on top of all my other duties! ;) (Pharmacy Technician)

It's like, there's no middle ground with this plan. For those that it works for, it works GREAT, and saves a lot of money. For those it DOSEN'T work for? Well, they're more or less frakked!

I had to laugh when I read a 'year in review' issue of a pharmacy magazine that said how it was a good thing that the Medicare plans covered more drugs than Medicaid...(said back in 2005)

BUUUULLLLLL-SHIIIITTTT!

These Medicare Part D plans won't pay for-
-benzodiazepines (valium, xanax, etc)
-Tessalon (a NON-NARCOTIIC, totally non-addictive COUGH SUPPRESANT!)
-many antibiotics
-most PPIs (Prevacid, Prilosec, etc)
-many cholesterol meds
-prescription vitamin/iron supplements
-& probably more that I can't think of at the moment...

where this plan makes sense financially (IMHO).

1) If you are eligible for the special assistance.
2) If you have annual drug expenses of $3500 or so or larger.

Other than those 2 cases, its probably a wash -- and since the late signup penalty is not based on actuarial assumptions, you will probably do better to delay signing up until you reach one of those two thresholds.