President Bush this week told seniors that help is available to those who are confused by the number of choices for the new Medicare drug plan. Bush said, "Ask your son or daughter, ask people in your church, ask people in AARP, ask people in your community center to help you look at what's available for you." Bush said.
Note how suddenly it is non-government sources who are supposed to solve the confusion caused by a government program that some have called a boondoggle.
Meantime, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that delegates at the 2005 White House Conference on Aging on Tuesday "sharply criticized" the new Medicare prescription drug benefit and suggested that it be "completely revised and administered by the government, not private companies." The delegates also said the federal government should negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies to obtain discounts on prescription drugs, saying the resulting savings would eliminate the doughnut hole in coverage.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Bush is the first president in the conference's history not to address delegates. Perhaps he didn't want to see how many of them were wearing buttons that read, "Fix Medicare RX."
Posted by schwitz at December 15, 2005 02:14 PM | TrackBack