"Medicare officials say there are no plans to rework the design of the prescription benefit"
Not even for cancer victims?
"For some, cancer drugs out of reach" by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press / June 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Chemotherapy is now available in a pill, but if you have Medicare, you may not be able to afford it.
Rita Moore discovered this when she took her prescription for a medication to treat kidney cancer to her local drugstore. She was stunned when the pharmacist told her a month’s supply of the pills would cost $2,400, more than she makes....
“I cried,’’ said Moore, who lives in the small central California town of Corcoran. “What can you do when the only thing out there that can maybe give you some quality of life is unaffordable? I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do.’’
Notice there is always plenty of money for war?
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Medicare prescription plans that cover seniors such as Moore are allowed to charge steep copayments for the latest cancer drugs, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. About 1 in 6 beneficiaries are not filling their prescriptions, according to recent research that suggests a worrisome trend.
Officials at Medicare say they’re not sure what happens to those patients — whether they get less expensive, older drugs that sometimes work as well, or whether they just give up.
Sometimes I think the government just wants you to die if you aren't serving them or paying taxes.
Traditionally, chemotherapy has been administered intravenously. Pills are a relatively new option that may represent the future of cancer care....
Pharmaceutical$ to benefit again, 'eh?
Private insurance companies that deliver the Medicare prescription benefit say the problem is that drug makers charge too much for the medications, some of which were developed from taxpayer-funded research.
And then they were TURNED OVER to PRIVATE INDUSTRY for PROFIT!
Talk about SOCIALISM!!
The pharmaceutical industry faults insurers, saying copayments on drugs are higher than cost-sharing for other medical services, such as hospital care.
When you are sick you don't care about the blame game.
Some analysts blame the design of the Medicare prescription benefit itself....
Can't these guys ever write a decent bill?
Medicare officials say there are no plans to rework the design of the prescription benefit.
Which basically means they really don't give a s*** about you, 'murkn.
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