Medicare Privitization Scam

The Nation has an excellent little article that we need to take note of and to make sure the congress does not cave to the insurance companies.


In the next few weeks Congress will decide whether to cut $54 billion in overpayments to Medicare insurers, igniting a battle that may well determine whether the program survives. On one side are Medicare supporters, who want it to continue as a successful social insurance program. On the other is the insurance industry, which is spending millions and lobbying hard to put Medicare on a fast track to privatization, a goal long sought by fiscal conservatives and their allies in right-wing think tanks.

The seeds of the conflict were sown in 2003, when Congress passed the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), which gives seniors a prescription drug benefit that is sold and administered by private insurers, not the government. This drug benefit, known as Part D, opened new markets for insurers, some of which have profited handsomely from the government's gift. The story of one of those companies, Humana, a forty-six-year-old carrier based in Louisville, Kentucky, shows what's at stake.

http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20070716&s=lieberman

The block to negotiating bulk prices for meds is costing the program a chunk of money.

Send this letter to congress today!

Copy and paste the letter below and email it directly to info@gop.com the Republican Party and get many others to send this letter. Thank you. Drop me a message to info@dmocrats.org with the subject Done after you have sent the email.


Hello

Get your Republican party to end the war by Dec. 2007 with Bush and Cheney resigning, and until you do we stop buying televisions, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, dvd players, stereo equipment, light bulbs from one of your party's major contributors and War contractors General Electric Corporation ( 203 373 2211 ) who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to enact HR 676 Single payer universal health care into law by Dec. 2007 and repeal Medicare Part D and place the prescription drug benefit in Medicare Part B covering 80 percent of all medication with no extra premiums, no extra deductibles,
no means tests, no coverage gaps, and until you do, we will not buy consumer products and prescription drugs from the biggest 3 pharmacy chains and GOP contributors in the country Eckerd, CVS, and Walgreens and we will not buy health insurance from Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna, the 2 biggest health insurance companies that give money to the GOP as well, who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to enact a $10 an hour minimum wage by Dec. 2007, and until you do, we will not go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

Get your Republican party to enact into law Universal vote by mail with paper ballots counted by civil servants with civil servants registering voters and keeping track of registrations by Dec. 2007, and until you do, we will not buy any GOP contributor Dell computers or monitors or go to the following restaurants and GOP contributors Wendy's, Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Dominos Pizza who cannot afford to lose a large sector of the publics business and money.

And it's disgusting that this Democratic led Congress would allow it to come to the floor. Privatizing Parts A and B is one hundred percent the wrong direction.

All those SS HMOs like Secure Horizons get seniors to sign away their SS rights for supposedly better coverage, however, the devil is in the details. So SS pays the HMOs the money to manage as they see fit and of course they have to make a profit and advertise and all the things Medicare doesn't have to do so guess who gets stiffed, the seniors and the medical providers. Many doctors won't even accept the SS HMOs anymore because they get continously stiffed on payments.