I know that the Bush campaign is betting on people voting with their fear, that’s why they continue to pound the terrorism drum while ignoring every domestic issue — except, of course, gay marriage.
I’m particularly pissed off at their utter incompetence on the health care issue. The only thing they’ve done in 4 years is create a new scam, a prescription discount card that’s no better — and in many ways much worse — that those cards you see advertised on daytime television during “The Golden Girls.”
The Bush administration is scamming seniors just like those insurance companies do, only this time with the endorsement — unbelievably — of the AARP.
Not once has the Bush administration said that insurance companies, drug makers, and medical providers should — gasp — reduce their prices — oh, no, he’d never tell big business that they’re charging too much, that would be tantamount to socialism. Instead, he fritters away taxpayer money on plans that slap a band-aid over the problem, allowing his cronies to get richer (did you know that the pharmaceutical industry is the most obscenely profitable one in this country?) while the senior citizens of this nation have to choose between eating and living.
Now, get this new wrinkle:
Health insurance premiums for senior citizens enrolled in Medicare will rise 17.5 percent in 2005, bringing the total monthly payment to $78.20, Bush administration officials said yesterday.
As most Americans began the Labor Day holiday weekend, federal health officials held a late-afternoon briefing to announce that the 42 million disabled and elderly Medicare beneficiaries will be hit with the largest premium increase in 15 years.
… In dollars, the premium increase, up from $66 this year, is the largest ever. In 1989, premiums climbed 28 percent, according to the CMS.
And who was president in 1989? Just asking.
This was another of those Friday news briefings that they hope will get ignored, since people don’t read the paper on Saturday or watch the news.
Well, I have two parents who have entered a time in their life which means that they sometimes get sick, seriously — so I read.
