Venality beyond Words 0
Behind closed doors:
(snip)
That change was made in mid-December during private negotiations involving House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and the staffs of those committees as well as the House Energy and Commerce Committee. House and Senate Democrats were excluded from the meeting. The Senate gave final approval to the budget-cutting measure on Dec. 21, but the House must give it final consideration early next month.
Meanwhile (from last February):
and
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered an emergency plan Thursday allowing the state to pay for the drugs for the next two weeks.
and
No electronic record of enrollment in a Medicare drug plan;
Pharmacies charging cost sharing above $1 for a generic drug/$3 for a brand name drug;
Attempts to impose deductibles;
Prescriptions being denied because of exclusion from a plan’s formulary; and
Prescriptions being denied because of “prior authorization” and “step therapy” requirements.
Maybe this should have been tagged under incompetence also.
