PFFFFFFFFFFTTTT!
First the blind, mentally ill, kids, and cripples take a hit, and now THIS!
"Drug costs soar for seniors; Cut in state funding boosts copayments" by Kay Lazar, Globe Staff | January 14, 2009
Tens of thousands of Bay State seniors are facing steep increases in the cost of their prescription drug copayments, the result of an $11 million cut in a state-funded program that, until Jan. 1, helped to defray their pharmacy costs.
More than 44,000 senior citizens are affected by the cuts in the Prescription Advantage program, with many seeing their copayments double or triple, officials said.
As a result, some seniors are simply leaving their prescriptions on the pharmacy counter, rather than pay a price they feel they can't afford, said Mary Sullivan, a pharmacist and director of MassMedLine, a nonprofit organization run by the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Probably better off without their poisons -- and your saving money, too!
"I am selling everything I can on
Yup, TRILLIONS for BANKS and WARS and ISRAEL, but SQUAT for YOU OLD FOLKS!!!
The cuts in the Prescription Advantage program were part of the $1 billion cut the Patrick administration made in October, as the recession began eating into state revenues.
Of course, "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shelling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Yup, the BILLION DOLLAR GIVEAWAY to the pharmaceutical corporations was a GOOD THING, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer.
Of course, "one of the governor's pet projects, the $3 million Commonwealth Corporation, is only taking a 5 percent trim."
And that is not counting the troubles at the Turnpike!
"The authority was attempting to renegotiate terms of a complex financial deal with the banking giant UBS. Known as a swaption, the arrangement could force the authority to pay out a $450 million lump sum"
Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
"Town officials... are trying to decide how much of a property tax break to offer and how they can secure state funding for infrastructure improvements.... although it could take several years for the studio to realize its potential"
Also see: Hollywood, Massachusetts
Hollywood (East) Disses Veterans
More Mass. $$$ to Movie Makers
Sorry, that wasn't it:
"$5m in tax breaks going to IBM for Littleton project
The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved $5 million in state and local tax breaks for IBM Corp., which recently began a $63 million expansion in Littleton. IBM vice president Bob McDonald said the company plans to create 42 jobs at the site over the next decade. McDonald said the computer giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., has already begun renovating a building and hopes to move into it next month. McDonald said the tax incentives were important, but the company would have gone forward with the expansion without them. IBM has 4,000 employees in Massachusetts, including about 2,000 in Littleton (Boston Globe October 30 2008)."
Yup, but the OLD FOLKS gotta lose HEALTH COVERAGE!
Kristina Barry, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said it was a "difficult decision" to make the cuts, but a necessary one.
Well, when you give all your tax money away to corporations....
Many seniors apparently did not realize how they would be affected by the program cuts, despite mass mailings by the state and outreach by advocacy groups in November and December.
How much did that cost, and why not put that $$$ towards the care of the elderly, 'eh?
"They are calling us when they reach the pharmacy and realize their [prescription] plans are not what they expected," said Sulllivan, of MassMedLine. Calls to the organization's hotline are running at double the normal volume, she said.
How horrid!!! Old people should not be subjected to such changes and bullshit; they need STABILITY just as a child does!! When I get that age, I'm not gonna want to deal with change!
For years, the state-funded Prescription Advantage program has helped seniors who met income-eligibility requirements with copayments for their medicines. That aid has been available with no requirement that seniors first pay a set amount out of pocket before the assistance kicks in. But now state assistance with copayments will not be available until $2,700 has been spent yearly on covered prescription drugs by the enrollee and Medicare, combined.
You just got fucked, old-timers!
"The pain will go away once they reach the $2,700, but it will be a heck of a lot of pain until then," said Deborah Banda, state director of AARP Massachusetts. "The vast majority of these people are on fixed incomes."
The Executive Office of Elder Affairs has been trying to ease the effects of higher copayment by sending out information to seniors statewide. The state will hold "over 100 statewide informational seminars about the changes, as well as briefing senior centers, pharmacists, and senior counselors," said Barry.
And HOW MUCH are those going to cost? How about just GIVING THEM the COVERAGE they DESERVEinstead? Ogh, right, we gotta toss money away to corporations, etc.
With the state still facing a substantial budget gap and Governor Deval Patrick warning that another round of cuts is likely, advocates for seniors say most can not shoulder more increases in medication costs.
I'm ashamed and embarrassed that I am from this shit state, folks!
We DO NOT TAKE CARE of OUR ELDERLY!!!
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