I hear there is a revision to the new MediCare drug coverage..what is it,

[sam sarrha]

and where can one find it.. it is only on the internet, and it seems that if you don't do it right you don't get anything, and they are not going to spend the money to reprint it.. i guess to maximize tie elimination of old sick people..

Hitler called them, "Worthless Eaters".

[Sal Minella]

1. It's worse than that.

The lowest income people receive complete assistance on their meds only if they're carrying a card that is one of the LEAST EXPENSIVE (to the government) THIRD of available cards.

If a poor person's card turns out to be one of the more expensive two-thirds, the poor person owes a premium (payable in U.S. dollars American) to the government.

The book that was mailed out says ALL very poor people will receive maximum assistance with their drug expenses, but turns out it's actually a lottery and those who have unfortunately chosen the cards that cost the gov't more will be billed for (an as yet unknown) amount.

The very poorest of the poor are supposed to go to a website to read about the correction to the booklet they all received. On this website (which I've heard about only briefly on the radio) instructions are given on the different cards.

Since the people generating the cards can change their benefits/costs at will without notifying any of the card holders, I fail to see the point.

The government spokesman says they don't want to mail out corrections on this error because "it would be too expensive." I heard him say it.

How expensive it's going to be for the poorest of the poor -- nobody knows, and certainly nobody in this administration cares.

So long as the Gigantic Pharmaceutical Companies can gather their obscene profits, the new "benefit" bill is doing its job.

[patricia92243]

2. There is a strong chance that the very people targeted don't have access t

to a computer. Or if they went to a library to access one, they would not know how to use it.

[Sal Minella]

3. Bingo. And you think this is an accident?

[sam sarrha]

4. Sooooo.. which card and how do i get it for my 84 year old mother who gets

only $635 a month.. and lost a check cause they made a 1 CENT ERROR 20 years ago..!!!! so the deducted it.

she has a heart problem and is going blind...

[sam sarrha]

5. it isnt that i havent tried to find it.. i just cant find it.

[Sal Minella]

6. All I know is, there are dozens of cards, all with different prices for

different medications, and you can spend many, many hours studying the different cards trying to determine which is best for the retiree you're working with.

And then the cardmaker you choose can change all of his benefits overnight without warning you anyway.

I don't know more than that at this point because my application was denied, because they said I had a $7,000 additional pension from some railway fund. (Nobody in my family has ever been anywhere near a railway job, and I'm living on an SS payment smaller than your mother's).

A nice lady at the SS office re-submitted my app by internet, and I haven't heard anything since.

Original contact with this program was, I received a form in the mail (about six months ago) which you fill out to find out if you qualify.