MEDICARE BLUES....Ruy Tuixeira says seniors aren't very happy with their new prescription drug benefit:
The inks barely dry on the bill and seniors are already tepid to hostile about the bill. According to the Washington Post article, strong pluralities of both seniors (47 percent to 26 percent) and those age fifty-five to sixty-four (46 percent to 32 percent) disapprove of the Medicare changes voted by Congress. The article quotes leading nonpartisan pollster Andrew Kohut as saying: This is a surprisingly tepid reaction to this big legislation.
....Wow. Usually bills like this get a nice honeymoon period where people give the new legislation the benefit of the doubt. Not this one. Maybe thats why the Bush administration is now talking about going to the moon. What theyre doing on earth doesnt seem to be going over too well.
There's no question that this bill is a real dog. And as seniors learn more about what's wrong with it, they're going to get even madder.
If you're interested, Mark Kleiman wrote a good summary of the problems with the bill a few weeks ago. My favorite is the provision that prohibits prohibits! Medicare from trying to negotiate lower prices from drug companies. That's the Republican way to control healthcare costs!
—Kevin Drum 9:52 PM
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