Thanks Obamacare: Medicare's drug coverage gap shrinks

[Listening]

The person who benefits from this now could be my mother or grandparents. But in time it will be me (and you whether you want to admit it or not).

If your family was stupid enough to ignore the government when it says people should not look at SS as a primary retirement vehicle, then so be it.

I admit to no such thing. When the time comes, I plan to use my social security to pay my green fees.

 

[candycorn]

The person who benefits from this now could be my mother or grandparents. But in time it will be me (and you whether you want to admit it or not).

If your family was stupid enough to ignore the government when it says people should not look at SS as a primary retirement vehicle, then so be it.

I admit to no such thing. When the time comes, I plan to use my social security to pay my green fees.

Many may have such a plan. Or had such a plan. Many more don't admit it.

 

[Salt Jones]

Actually, I wouldn't doubt that I am partially paying for it. Since the cost of prescriptions for military retirees just went up......

From $3 for a 30 day supply to $5.

Yep my COLA raise this year should just about cover it......maybe.....Idiot.

This is what I mean about not researching and passing that ignorance off as truth and with a healthy dose of pomposity.

Now here are the facts:

Tricare has dropped the cost of co-payments on prescriptions through its pharmacy mail-order program while upping the amount beneficiaries will pay for medications at retail pharmacies, the military health management agency announced Wednesday.
Starting Oct. 1, co-pays for generic prescriptions filled at Tricare network pharmacies will increase to $5 from $3. Co-pays for brand-name drugs will rise to $12 from $9, and medications not listed on Tricare’s official formulary will cost $25, up from $22.
But the agency is dropping co-pays for patients who receive generic prescriptions through the system’s mail order program. Beneficiaries currently pay $3 for a 90-day supply delivered through the mail; after Oct. 1, they’ll pay nothing.
“Home delivery offers a great value for patients taking maintenance medications for chronic conditions,” Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, Tricare deputy director, said in a statement.
Those who use mail order for nonformulary and brand-name drugs will still have to pay a fee: nonformulary drugs will cost $25 and brand-names will remain the same, $9.

Tricare adjusts prescription drug co-pays - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

 

[Salt Jones]

The person who benefits from this now could be my mother or grandparents. But in time it will be me (and you whether you want to admit it or not).

If your family was stupid enough to ignore the government when it says people should not look at SS as a primary retirement vehicle, then so be it.

I admit to no such thing. When the time comes, I plan to use my social security to pay my green fees.

So said the 67 year old, cica 2008, who had just retired and lost 60- 80% of their 401K.

 

[Cammmpbell]

I earned my pension and benefits too asswipe. And it's not from the ******* government either.

Poor baby. You're just mad because you're a hypocrite that's 100% dependant on the government to care for you and you were called on it.

you told me you had been employed by a public sector union and had retired, your wife too....wtf

Ya. We had this conversation. The question is: Do you consider public utilities "public sector" or "private sector"?

I retired from a publicly owned power plant and now work for an independant power producer that has to compete with other utilities.

So I guess it's all in how you look at it.

Does the Department of Energy have anything to do with it

I worked for Union Carbide for 41 years when they were a prime contractor for the government. My pension doesn't show any evidence of the government but in fact my salary and my pension were and are being paid for with funds provided by the government.

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

were are they getting the money to close this 'gap'.....

c a n y o u r e a d ?

a 50 percent discount that the law secured from pharmaceutical companies on brand name drugs yielded an average savings of $581. Medicare also picked up more of the cost of generic drugs, saving an additional $22.

 

[Cammmpbell]

were are they getting the money to close this 'gap'.....

c a n y o u r e a d ?

a 50 percent discount that the law secured from pharmaceutical companies on brand name drugs yielded an average savings of $581. Medicare also picked up more of the cost of generic drugs, saving an additional $22.

It all becomes rather academic anyway when one considers that we're the only
industriali ed country in the world where more than 500 companies make a profit off of sick people. Guess what.........in general health and longevity we still just rank 37th.

 

[skipper]

were are they getting the money to close this 'gap'.....

c a n y o u r e a d ?

a 50 percent discount that the law secured from pharmaceutical companies on brand name drugs yielded an average savings of $581. Medicare also picked up more of the cost of generic drugs, saving an additional $22.

It all becomes rather academic anyway when one considers that we're the only
industriali ed country in the world where more than 500 companies make a profit off of sick people. Guess what.........in general health and longevity we still just rank 37th.

That's an appalling figure for the 'number one' country in the world.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

What part of health care costs going up and cost of premiums going up is so difficult to understand.

BTW has there been any news from the Supreme court yet?

Ohio just passed a law outlawing Obamacare.......

Arguments will take place in March; decision in June. They talk about it during the Political Gabfest.

OWS evicted, SCOTUS on health care, and John’s Bachmann email on the Political Gabfest - Slate Magazine

Apparently, the high court will consider a few things. One is if the act in general would be sustainable if the single mandate of forcing one to purchase health insurance is overturned. Another is if the increased costs to States is constitutional for a Federal Program.

The decision won't be if the entire thing is to be overturned or not apparently.

.....For good reason.....​

November 13, 2011​

“Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation, such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and all of those challenges failed,” the Justice Department said in a statement in September when it asked the justices to consider the health-care act.

But there is an answer to the obvious question of why the health-care act might not be constitutional while Social Security — and its offshoot Medicare — are. They were built on separate constitutional powers.

Congress contends that its ability to require almost all individuals to buy health insurance or pay a fine comes from its power to regulate interstate commerce and enact laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the goals of the federal government.

Social Security, on the other hand, was justified under Congress’s power to levy taxes and spend money “to provide for the general welfare.”

What that open-ended wording means is an argument as old as the union.

James Madison thought it meant that the federal government could raise and spend money only for those purposes spelled out in the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton said it was much broader and gave the government wider latitude to provide services that improved Americans’ general welfare.

The Hamiltonian view gradually gained ground, but it was no certainty that the Supreme Court of the 1930s was ready to continue to embrace it when it came to the expansive programs of the New Deal. It rejected a federal program of agricultural price supports and controls that Congress had justified under the same taxing powers.

That in turn led to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ill-advised and eventually unsuccessful “court-packing” proposal that would have allowed him to shift the court’s balance by adding justices of his choosing.

It turned out not to be necessary in the case of Social Security. Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, writing for a seven-justice majority, declared in Helvering v. Davis that the intellectual battle between Madison and Hamilton was over, and that Hamilton had won.

The “concept of the general welfare” is not static, he said. “Needs that were narrow or parochial a century ago may be interwoven in our day with the well-being of the nation. What is critical or urgent changes with the times.”

The Supremos & Health Care Reform​

 

[SFC Ollie]

From $3 for a 30 day supply to $5.

Yep my COLA raise this year should just about cover it......maybe.....Idiot.

This is what I mean about not researching and passing that ignorance off as truth and with a healthy dose of pomposity.

Now here are the facts:

Tricare has dropped the cost of co-payments on prescriptions through its pharmacy mail-order program while upping the amount beneficiaries will pay for medications at retail pharmacies, the military health management agency announced Wednesday.
Starting Oct. 1, co-pays for generic prescriptions filled at Tricare network pharmacies will increase to $5 from $3. Co-pays for brand-name drugs will rise to $12 from $9, and medications not listed on Tricare’s official formulary will cost $25, up from $22.
But the agency is dropping co-pays for patients who receive generic prescriptions through the system’s mail order program. Beneficiaries currently pay $3 for a 90-day supply delivered through the mail; after Oct. 1, they’ll pay nothing.
“Home delivery offers a great value for patients taking maintenance medications for chronic conditions,” Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, Tricare deputy director, said in a statement.
Those who use mail order for nonformulary and brand-name drugs will still have to pay a fee: nonformulary drugs will cost $25 and brand-names will remain the same, $9.

Tricare adjusts prescription drug co-pays - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

So you can quote all the propaganda you want. Costs went up. If I get a prescription for 30 days from my doctor then it will cost me more. And even still the whole story isn't being told. They also decided to cut certain drugs and call them over the counter and no longer covered. So what I used to get for $9 for 3 months now costs me $15 every month. And yep I have to have it and no my doctor says he can't think of anything else that will do the job. So there are many little things that they use to make money from the retiree. I bet you live near a base and use the on base facilities don't you...... Some of us are not close enough to even think about it.

 

[candycorn]

What part of health care costs going up and cost of premiums going up is so difficult to understand.

BTW has there been any news from the Supreme court yet?

Ohio just passed a law outlawing Obamacare.......

Arguments will take place in March; decision in June. They talk about it during the Political Gabfest.

OWS evicted, SCOTUS on health care, and John’s Bachmann email on the Political Gabfest - Slate Magazine

Apparently, the high court will consider a few things. One is if the act in general would be sustainable if the single mandate of forcing one to purchase health insurance is overturned. Another is if the increased costs to States is constitutional for a Federal Program.

The decision won't be if the entire thing is to be overturned or not apparently.

.....For good reason.....​

November 13, 2011​

“Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation, such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and all of those challenges failed,” the Justice Department said in a statement in September when it asked the justices to consider the health-care act.

But there is an answer to the obvious question of why the health-care act might not be constitutional while Social Security — and its offshoot Medicare — are. They were built on separate constitutional powers.

Congress contends that its ability to require almost all individuals to buy health insurance or pay a fine comes from its power to regulate interstate commerce and enact laws “necessary and proper” to carry out the goals of the federal government.

Social Security, on the other hand, was justified under Congress’s power to levy taxes and spend money “to provide for the general welfare.”

What that open-ended wording means is an argument as old as the union.

James Madison thought it meant that the federal government could raise and spend money only for those purposes spelled out in the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton said it was much broader and gave the government wider latitude to provide services that improved Americans’ general welfare.

The Hamiltonian view gradually gained ground, but it was no certainty that the Supreme Court of the 1930s was ready to continue to embrace it when it came to the expansive programs of the New Deal. It rejected a federal program of agricultural price supports and controls that Congress had justified under the same taxing powers.

That in turn led to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ill-advised and eventually unsuccessful “court-packing” proposal that would have allowed him to shift the court’s balance by adding justices of his choosing.

It turned out not to be necessary in the case of Social Security. Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo, writing for a seven-justice majority, declared in Helvering v. Davis that the intellectual battle between Madison and Hamilton was over, and that Hamilton had won.

The “concept of the general welfare” is not static, he said. “Needs that were narrow or parochial a century ago may be interwoven in our day with the well-being of the nation. What is critical or urgent changes with the times.”

The Supremos & Health Care Reform​

You're 100% right (and you proved it)!

I was pointing out the nuances for my colleague Ollie.

 

[Cammmpbell]

c a n y o u r e a d ?

It all becomes rather academic anyway when one considers that we're the only
industriali ed country in the world where more than 500 companies make a profit off of sick people. Guess what.........in general health and longevity we still just rank 37th.

That's an appalling figure for the 'number one' country in the world.

Do you think we're still the number one country in the world....... I think the Netherlands, Switerland or possibly Austria might suit a lot of people better. Me...I'm 77 years old and the only time I've lived outside of Tennessee is when I was in the military back in the late 1950's I won't be going anywhere.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Yes we are the greatest country in the world, no matter how badly the left doesn't want to be.......

 

[Listening]

Yes we are the greatest country in the world, no matter how badly the left doesn't want to be.......

I would hope everyone could feel that way about their country.

And I would also hope that no matter how good we think it is, we would strive to make it better.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Yes we are the greatest country in the world, no matter how badly the left doesn't want to be.......

I would hope everyone could feel that way about their country.

And I would also hope that no matter how good we think it is, we would strive to make it better.

I do what I can............

 

[Cammmpbell]

Yes we are the greatest country in the world, no matter how badly the left doesn't want to be.......

I would hope everyone could feel that way about their country.

And I would also hope that no matter how good we think it is, we would strive to make it better.

I do what I can............

Yeah...500 companies earning profits off of sick people and we still rank 37th in the world in general health and longevity. They've got us exactly where they want us...unhealthy and they're in the hospital and medicine business.

Do you really think the rich and powerful give a big goat's ass whether we're healthy or not

Do you think they give a phiddler's phuck whether we live or die. It's just like when they crashed the economy, took $800 billion of taxpayer's money and never missed a bonus.

 

[Listening]

I would hope everyone could feel that way about their country.

And I would also hope that no matter how good we think it is, we would strive to make it better.

I do what I can............

Yeah...500 companies earning profits off of sick people and we still rank 37th in the world in general health and longevity. They've got us exactly where they want us...unhealthy and they're in the hospital and medicine business.

Do you really think the rich and powerful give a big goat's ass whether we're healthy or not

Do you think they give a phiddler's phuck whether we live or die. It's just like when they crashed the economy, took $800 billion of taxpayer's money and never missed a bonus.

You missed the whole point.

 

[SFC Ollie]

I would hope everyone could feel that way about their country.

And I would also hope that no matter how good we think it is, we would strive to make it better.

I do what I can............

Yeah...500 companies earning profits off of sick people and we still rank 37th in the world in general health and longevity. They've got us exactly where they want us...unhealthy and they're in the hospital and medicine business.

Do you really think the rich and powerful give a big goat's ass whether we're healthy or not

Do you think they give a phiddler's phuck whether we live or die. It's just like when they crashed the economy, took $800 billion of taxpayer's money and never missed a bonus.

Ah yes the WHO and their little efficiency charts......... LOL we are 37th that's why so many come here from other countries for treatment..... But you keep believing that.... LOL,,, I love this place.......