Plan D Gets an F

It's important going into this election year to lay out the entire sordid prescription drug story. This "major policy intiative" from the Bush Administration was passed late at night through a strong-arming Congress, which included Tom DeLay trying to bribe Rep. Nick Smith on the House floor (then when the about-to-retire Smith didn't bite, DeLay backed a primary opponent for Smith's son for the open seat, who beat him. Don't mess with these guys on loyalty). The White House knowningly downplayed the cost of the program by billions and billions, and when the chief Medicare actuary tried to speak out about it, they threatened to fire him. The bill itself gives hundreds of millions to Big Pharma, and mandates that the federal government cannot import cheaper drugs from overseas, or even bargain with pharmaceutical companies to lower prices.

So we have corruption, bribery, lying, and corporate welfare. Then the plan kicks in January 1, and we have utter incompetence:

It has been less than three weeks since the much-anticipated Medicare drug benefit took effect, but the new system is already sputtering, leaving thousands of people with rejected prescription claims and states scrambling to cover the costs.

Medicare recipients and pharmacists from across the country are complaining that the new system, which is supposed to be part of the cornerstone of healthcare for the nation's seniors, isn't working the way it should — and that thousands who switched over to the new plan in the last few months are either mislabeled in the system or not in the system at all. And calling the government hotline to solve the problems hasn't brought much help.

"Their lines were busy, they would hang up on you, they had a nice recording saying 'Due to the volume we are not able to speak with you, please call later," said Virginia Mahan, an retiree in Texas who signed up for the new plan in December through the American Association for Retired Persons.

Pharmacists are singing a similar tune.

"It's been a complete nightmare," said Don Smith, a pharmacist in Little Rock, Arkansas.

And this isn't something where we have the luxury of patience. Seniors rely on these life-saving medicines to be dispensed on a regular and timely basis. Any delay in that starts a public health crisis. That's exactly what we have on our hands, to the extent that the states have had to step in:

From California to Minnesota, state governments issued emergency legislation to make sure their citizens are covered. For example, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, unsure that the federal government would make the new plan workable, said his state hatched their emergency plan over Christmas and launched it Thursday.

"We expect them to pay us and reimburse us for that money," he said.

And good for Schwarzenegger and his team for realizing that the feds were NOT going to make this work.

Lots of conservatives didn't like this plan to begin with, saying it was a big government entitlement. But I don't think seniors, who've been getting their drugs for years and now can't, really give a damn about political ideology. They look at the problem and say one thing. "What a fuck-up."

Seniors have really helped Republicans in the last few election cycles. This public health disaster is not going to do a whole lot for the old brand image. Is it too much to ask for a little competence SOMEWHERE in this government?