Remember when Bush rolled out his grand efforts to ‘reform’ Medicare with creeping privatization? Remember how they were going to save us all money and do a much better job at the same time?
Well, gueeesssss whaaaaat?
Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found.
The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores.
Medicare officials have required insurance companies of all sizes to fix the violations by adopting “corrective action plans.” Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits.
The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint.
Cue a nice round of “Don’t say we didn’t warn you”:
The audits show the growing pains that Medicare has experienced as it introduced the popular new drug benefit and shifted more responsibility to private health plans.
For years, Democrats have complained about efforts to “privatize Medicare,” and they are likely to cite the findings as evidence that private insurers cannot be trusted to care for the sickest, most vulnerable Medicare recipients.
Chalk another one up in the long list of examples showing, with crystal clarity, exactly why privatization sucks.
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PW!!
I gave to BA, and all I got was lousy, #3? *g*
Zed!
I feel better already!
Hello, Phoenix Woman!
The Bush administration would put privatization of the Trident Missile SLBM submarine fleet up for bid if it’d bring more money into the RNC.
I was talking to some public health care workers recently. One had switched to a private system and worked in a private hospital, but shortly quit to go back to public care where he has more control over the health care he provides. That is, his care is not dictated by the assembly line of care demanded by the private company/hospital.
It is a bit of a jolt to think that the public system is actually better than what I am paying for. And I am paying a lot.
(((((((Phoenix Woman!)))))))
Ed*ard Teller @ 6
He’s well on the way to privatizing the army.
Ed*ard Teller @ 6
707! ET that’s so true!
Demi @ 2
You got #2. See ‘give and you shall receive’
:)
Dang. I read first, and then missed my chance at the zed by a minute. But it was a good read!
I actually read the article first on the NYT, but without benefit of PW’s editorial comments.
The Bush administration has been perpetuating one scam after another in their effort to create their dream of a permanent Fascist state. They’re betting that we won’t be vigilant enough. Who will win the bet?
Bob in HI
This brings to mind the unmitigated disaster that would have befallen Social Security if Chimpy had not gotten his hand slapped reaching for the cookie jar.
That was one instance where damn near everyone said NO!
This is a feature, not a bug.
We’re all living in Grover Norquist’s bathtub.
Looks like everything that these people try to get their hands on turns to sh*t just as they think they’ve gotten it.
I just wish it didn’t turn to sh*t for everyone else too.
(This is one of the few things that makes me glad my mother died two years ago.)
Here is something to ponder.
Lil’ Bush vetoed SChIP because it would move us too close to socialized med’cine, i.e., a health system run by the scarey ol’ gummint.
Lil’ Bush gets his health care at Bethesda Naval Hospital, from U.S. Navy physicians. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages — Bethesda (and Walter Reed and every other service hospital and VA hospital and US Public Health Service hospital in this country) are socialized med’cine. The doctors all work for the scarey ol’ gummint, the facilty belongs to the scarey ol’ gummint.
This is the only case I can think of where the following is true:
If it’s good enough for the Shrub, it’s good enough for us, the people.
BC
In other words, what’s happening with the Medicare drug benefit is EXACTLY what we predicted would happen. The intent of the program isn’t to help elderly people afford their medication, it’s to increase the profits for the drug and insurance companies.
allan_in_upstate @ 14
Mission Accomplished
“Foreskin, and codpiece ago, Dear Leader brought forth…
Oilfieldguy @ 18
Woops, I forgot the link.
Former Congressman Billy Tauzin helped write the Medicare, Part D bill, then took a two million dollar a year job with the pharmaceutical trade group, PhRMA. PhRMA is a trade group and not a lobbing group, so there was no waiting period.
Most clinical providers who were supposed to be reimbursed under the Medicare drug beneifit have also not been paid yet. Doctors, nurses and pharmacists who set up medication management clinics (which are supposed to reduce cost of care -the jury is still out on whether they really do save any mony or improve outcomes or not) are still doing it without much reimbursement, hoping that the reimbursement mechanisms set up for them will start working some day.
allan_in_upstate @ 14
Boy, howdy, isn’t that the truth. Can anybody help me with this, I have a terrible time understanding this:
If you have hypothetical group A that would be handling something in a not-for-profit manner, it’s a bigger group than all of the Group B’s components put together and their backed by the government,
then you have a lot of Group B’s that would handling this in a for-profit manner, their individual companies and their corporate charters are to make money (as all for-profit company charters are),
how is it that Group B could possibly do the work for less money?
Am I wrong, or is it absurd on its face?
When Medcare Part D came out, Mom opted out of it and remained on the CHAMPUS coverage for drugs. It was a good thing she did too as her drug costs would have been around $1500 per month, before insurances. Dad will remain on CHAMPUS for as long as he can.
Bustednuckles @ 13
And thank the Gods that they did! It does all seem to go along with a much broader plan, though. Most of it, we’ve already known for quite some time. They want smaller government with fewer controls over business entities. In other words, they want a laissez faire type of government with regard to the economy, but they reserve the right to be judgmental in regard to personal morality. In the Rethugs view, then, individual civil liberties are less important than the survival of the corporations and business entities from which all benefits flow, as in “trickle down.”
It’s hard to believe, but if you look at the forest, the way all the trees are put together, it appears to me that this is all part of a greater plan. Certainly a greater plan than I would like to give this group of people credit for executing. But the plan and the execution of the “chaos theory” is all the more reason that we have to be very careful not to underestimate these people. They are right about one thing. The stakes are too high!
The real moment of truth comes when the trickle down doesn’t happen fast enough to keep the demand up that the other side doesn’t seem to realize drives the economy. Once nobody can afford homes and luxuries, and food for a family of four costs a weeks pay for the average family, then it becomes obvious we have an unworkable situation. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, it never quite gets to that point, because the pendulum always swings back just in the nick of time to avoid another great depression. Except when it doesn’t…
howdy PW…. waxman’s committee is having a hearing thursday on this very subject:
Thursday, 10 am – House Oversight and Government Reform
Hearing on Medicare Part D: Assessing Private Insurers’ Delivery of Medicare Drug Coverage
from the weekly list.
“fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies”
That’s little more than chump-change for most insurance companies. It’s more like an ATTA-Boy than punishment.
Bulletin! Bulletin! Daughter #2 is fixin’ to have a baby! My second grandkid. I’m officially a geezer at 47. Get ready for the cyber cigars all around!
thank you Phoenix Woman!
Imagine all the businesses that will spring up resulting from privatization – collection agencies (a subsidiary of Blackwater), medical bills consolidation agencies (a subsidiary of Halliburton), specialized legal servers (run by Abu Gonzales), specialized law firms (Scooter Libby’s Group). The trickle down effect is unimaginable. Or, is it?
Oilfieldguy @ 27
Hey congrats there OFG! and {{{{{Daughter #2 and grandkid!1!}}}}}
Congratulations Oil Field Guy!
Hey 47 isn’t too old,
snort, chuckle, same age I am.
Anybody notice the GOP’s latest animated logo?
Oilfieldguy @ 27
That’s really great ! Grandchildren are the best and so much fun. Enjoy every minute you can with them.
Oilfieldguy @ 27
How fortunate you are. I have four and it’s the best. To quote from anonymous: “Had I known grandkids were so terrific I would have had them first.”
Bustednuckles @ 30
Jane called me a kid once, (snicker) yet we are the same age, and so is Digby.
Methinks the chicks have sorta outpaced me in the political awareness department. Somehow, this bothers me not at all.
Congrats Oilfieldguy! We’ll be waiting for the good news.
Sorry PW, did not mean to hijack the thread. Perhaps some “captain Obvious reporter will find gravity sucks.
Oilfieldguy @ 31
Nice link and congrats on the good news.
RBG @ 37
I liked Howies take on the new logo that will great GOP conventioneers attending in Minneapolis.
First, the color is blue. Hmmm. Otherwise, it is a starry eyed wide-stanced elephant.
QuakerGirl @ 28
You know what they say: those that don’t learn from history are destined to repeat it! Seems Dems always end up coming back and cleaning up after one of the Rethugs’ social engineering and poli/sci experiments. I remember talking to a coworker back during the Clinton administration. She informed me that from her point of view, the economic atmosphere of the mid-nineties was attributable to Ronald Reagan. And just as the economy was responding to Reagan’s policies, we’ve changed policies, so we’ll be going on a downswing anytime.
Forty-seven? Jeebus ! You are kids ! Congrats, OFG, said with the envy that only the grandchildrenless can muster.
Oilfieldguy @ 34
Obviously, how uncool to call them “chicks”! :)
When is the baby due, OFG? Congratulations to you and your daughter. We haven’t had a baby around since the weerog.
retirin’ in five @ 40
Ditto, nothin here but doggies!
“The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint”
Does anyone know if these organizations enjoy tax-exempt status/non-profit status?
My father went from drugstore to drugstore and finally ended up at Costco for a prescription that would have been $68 at CVS and was $14 at Costco.
He was doing this because whatever plan this 79 year old minister is using turned down covering him for a drug his doctor prescribed.
I am frustrated, angry that this man who just lost his wife two weeks ago is forced to search for prescriptions at a reasonable price. When we all have time to catch our breath, I will study who turned him down and why.
To break the trust with our nation to care for our elderly and young is a shame the Bush government will carry into history.
It is being written on the faces of the vulnerable.
1,621 dayz and the killin’ goez on and on and..
Citizen oilfieldguy and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
Conrats Oilfieldguy, yer best years are still comin’ yer way!!
As fer the new GOPer logo…it’s gunna be a little dusty in the “dustbin of history”. Hope the new national health system covers Clariten. Oh the irony, don’tcha jest LOVE God’s sense a humor??!!
KEEP THE FAITH AND THEY’LL END UP WHERE THEY BELONG!!
Working for a healthcare provider, I much prefer government bureaucracy to corporate greed. Though, must admit Medicare is best & most efficient healthcare delivery system in the US.
NorskeFlamethrower @ 46
Hope you are correct. I keep thinking that the Bush wing in hell must be getting more and more reservations every day.
QuakerGirl @ 28
Exactly. We’re being trickled on, if anything.
brantl @ 22
Well, it’s only absurd because you put your thumb on the scales with your stated assumption that Group A, not Group B, would get whatever cost advantages go along with economies of scale. I don’t think we know what would happen on a level playing field, because the Republicans and their cronies don’t believe in level playing fields.
It is not necessarily the case that the not-for-profit sector will always provide health care service (or any other services) more efficiently and at lower cost than the for-profit sector. Ever looked at the comp and benefits packages of the senior management of “non-profit” health care systems? Read some IRS Forms 990 some day in your spare time (non-profits are required to make them publicly availalbe). I assure you it will be an eye-opener. To cite only one example: you might think that Mike Krzyzewski, the famous men’s basketball coach, is the highest paid employee of Duke University. Uh-uh. Last time I checked, the head of Duke Health made more from the university than Coach K makes from the university and Nike combined.
Here’s how I see healthcare. The various governmental bodies of the USA are paying more per capita for healthcare than most other western industrial country around. On top of that, the private sector is paying at least what governmental bodies in the USA are.
Where is the proof that our present health care system is cheaper and more efficient than Europe’s?
Phoenix Woman @ 49
That ain’t rain – We gettin’ p*ss’d on! /s
And remember folks, and remind those who don’t get it — when they say “smaller government” in a democracy that’s “We The People” they’re talking about.
Apparently it really cramps their marauding, thieving style when the people assert themselves too much.
Lucky for them, they haven’t had their style cramped too much in recent years.
America’s Children Need Your Help On SCHIP
Christy is UpStairs.
MEC @ 17
A-yep.
Ooh, $70,000 (average) per company. That’ll show ‘em.
Hell, the CEO of any of those companies could pull that much out of his pocket.
It’s the equivalent of a stern look, or maybe a wagging finger.
Oilfieldguy @ 36
Been there, done that! Three times.
You are entitled to hijack. Grandparenting is absolutely wonderful.
Nine years ago last Friday, I had the opportunity to witness the birth of my second grandchild, (thanks to an envite by my wonderful daughter in law), an event I will never forget. Had she waited 2 hours to be born, we would have shared a birthday. Couldn’t get there in time for the first, and was babysitting the younger during the last.
They are all precious.
OFG — Congratulations! :) I bet you are such an awesome grandpa, with that big ole heart of yours. (Ooops, I’m blowing your tough guy, macho image…*g*)
Fresh thread, for anyone who wants one…
Bob Dylan – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Is the REASON the criminal Bush Gang is not ALL in prison because of the Democratic Leadership Council’s hold on Democrats? I need to do more FREEWAY BLOGGING and am thinking that the DLC is a fine target!
“I’m shocked, shocked,” says Captain Renault, to find unrepentant greed in healthcare..
I’ve trackbacked (or is it trackedback?) to firedoglake post on this (trying, anyway), so that if you need lots more examples of why we need single payer, you can click on the various topics I have set up on the right to get data when you are in a fracas…
http://cmhmd.blogspot.com
Ed*ard Teller @ 6
Not to be too pessimistic, but who’s to say they haven’t already.
We haven’t exactly heard a clear explanation of what was going on with the Minot AFB nukes on the loose — maybe the buyer is still waiting.
Ann in AZ @ 39
I don’t know why you all call it “privatization”. It is actually Corporatization…or Capitalization that the US health care structure suffers.
Call it what it is! Corporations practicing medicine… for profit, and nothing else but profit.
What if you are a transplant recipient who will reject your new organ if you miss a dose of your rejection medicine? How do you feel relying on these people?
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