While there are many important issues that Democrats can and should be using as "talking points" to differentiate themselves from the Repubs, one that I have seen little discussion about, especially in the MSM, is the "new" Medicare Drug Plan. Seniors in this country, a very strong voting bloc, must make a decision within the next few months about which plan, if any, they will select. Delay the decision past May 15,2006 and they will pay a penalty in terms of higher premiums. And according to an article last week in USA Today, over 60% were confused as to what they were going to do.
While I was always in favor of this benefit, I opposed the "bush" plan on a number of issues. Most notably, the fact that the plan does not allow for "price" negotiation, or in lieu of that, importation from a country like Canada, means taxpayers are doling out at least 50% more than we should. And the big pharm companies loves us for it, since it makes their donations to the Reds easier. But this, obviously, is not the cause for confusion, nor is it the reason for this posting.
My mother is 84 years old, a widow, and in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease. With that, I oversee her finances and make all determinations as to her care, a responsibility I gladly accept. Last week I began to delve into the options available to her, and after looking at more web sites than I can count (both governmental and insurance), and speaking on the phone to any number of people (again both government and insurance types), I am no better off than before I started. I will probably wind up creating a "spread sheet" that will rival any, in terms of complexity, I've created in my business life. And the sad news is, that while I'll be able to select something to suit her needs of today, should her situation relative to the medications she requires change, we may have to change the plan. And if you change plans, you can get screwed. In fact, her situation may not change, but the plan she selects can change and not fit her needs anymore. So guess who gets screwed?
Hey! Democratic leadership. Before we start talking about simplifying the tax code, let's come up with a plan that's simple and easy for the seniors to utilize (and maybe save some tax dollars to boot). I think there's a lot of votes to gained on this one.  
 

As reported in USA Today on Wednesday (9/22/05) a group of conservative GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Mike Pence and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, offered their list of proposals on various ways to cut federal spending in order to pay for hurricane relief. Among the items listed (with '06 savings) were delaying the implimentation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors ($30.6B), elimination of funding for the NEA and CPB($543M), restriction of grant money to local governments to help pay for first responder preperation to terrorism($630M), reduced funding to the CDC ($1.8B), elimination of funding for clean coal technology ($50M), charge federal employees for parking ($140M), decline pay raise for members of congress (savings of a massive $1M)and a few others.
Of course, no where in their list was anything about eliminating the billions in pork in the just passed transportation bill. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) offered to "give up" the $70M destined for her district. But, Don Young (R-Alaska) was quoted as saying "Kiss my ear!" (an obvious reference to the special EARmarked funds), when asked if he would forgo building the "bridge to nowhere" in Ketchikan, Alaska (at a cost of over $200M).
Nor was there any mention of repealing the billion dollar give away to oil companies (to fund exploration) in the recently passed energy bill. Oops! Can't get those big donors at the oil companies mad.
And what about allowing the Social Security Admin. to negotiate drug prices just like the VA does? We could cut the cost of this program by 50% and still offer it. Darn it! That might make the big donors at the pharmaceutical companies upset.
When will the American people wake up and stop voting for these idiots?