24 Jan 2006
Poll: Most Find Medicare Program Puzzling

That's because it is. And it's worse than confusing, it's downright deceptive. As reported here previously, my mom had decided not to sign up for this, as it would only save her a whopping $24/year, and add considerable forms, paperwork and aggravation to her medical care.

But she'll be signing up later this week. You see, she went to get her prescriptions filled earlier this month, and the prices (for her) had actually gone up! Why? It wasn't that the drug companies had raised prices, it was that they've stopped the numerous discount programs that they used to operate to save senior citizens some dough on drugs. But since Medicare now covers pharmaceuticals, they dropped the discounts. And the net cost to my 82 year old mother went up by nearly 35%!

So she'll fill out the forms, and file the papers. And come out about where she was before the new program, only more frustrated and angry at government. And I can't blame her.

AP - Most people, particularly senior citizens, say they are having a hard time understanding the new Medicare prescription drug program, an AP-Ipsos poll found.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

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