For Medicare recipients, it's not just Sparkle Season, it's Medicare Part D Season. By December 31, they must enroll or re-enroll in their Medicare Part D insurance plans to attain or modify coverage, reduce premiums, or avoid stiff and permanent penalties. I urge you to pour yourself a nice hot cup of cocoa or a good stiff eggnog and then to study some selected sites and sing some snarky songs.
Wait. Did I just say study? Don't I know that it's the holidays and that you already have countless things to do? Yes, I do. However, millions of people will be making these daunting decisions while making their holiday plans this month.
If nothing else, at least you will be more prepared when it comes time to help a loved one (or yourself) choose a policy, if this convoluted program remains in its current monstrous form.
Here's a little something to hum while you fix that drink...
Hark! It's Medicare Part D!
Glory to the new drug kings!
High net worth and earnings wild.
Record profits they have filed!
Dash through the snow with me for some facts and fun...
I "sing" a lot in this diary, but I don't exactly "say" a lot, other than to express my opinion that Medicare Part D is a total debacle. I gleaned the numerous links from the 1.6M hits I got when I Googled "Medicare Part D." There's enough information to get your education started or to refresh your memory.
In the spirit of Christmas Part D, I wrote a little parody of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Before my song is a video featuring an unusual and haunting version of the song by Loreena McKennitt.
Invest, Ye Merry Businessmen
Invest, ye merry businessmen,
In healthcare industries!
Remember these superior,
Stock opportunities!
To make a haul, it's happy hour,
With Medicare Part D!
O tidings of profit enjoy!
Profit enjoy!
O tidings of profit enjoy!
Next, guide your open sled to the page called My Medical Matters, touted to be "A Simple Guide to the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage," from the web site of National Council on Aging. Poke around there for a while, but be sure to play the 7 Simple Steps game before departing. I did. In the end, I was still left with 54 choices to research - and hoping to find a Medicare Part D 12-Step Program as well! Here is another version of the game, called the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder, from our very own federal government. I tried, but I couldn't navigate it past the first few screens. Maybe you have better skills - or you'll have better luck, anyway.
The issue at stake is Medicare Part D, which House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has vowed to immediately revamp should Democrats take control after the mid-term elections.
Oh, really?
Uh-oh. I think it's time for another music break. The next tune came from a kind of "round" or "voice exchange" version of Jingle Bells I sang more than 35 years ago with my high school chorus. I have included some performance notes to help you imagine how it would sound this way. I also offer you two videos of the perennial favorite. The first is an unusual and highly entertaining rendition by the Tianjin University Choir. The second is from Warner Brothers' and performed by the LooneyTunes. Mine is in the middle.
Medicare! Medicare! Medicare, Part D! (sopranos in italics, altos in regular type)
Sung at almost a whisper:
Oh, listen, cartels are singing.
...(Sing-a-bling-ching-ching) Oh, listen, stock bells are ringing.
...(Ting-a-ling-jing-jing)
Cashing your dough,
In a wide open fray. ...(They're cashing.)
On to the banks they go,
Laughing while we pay! Ho-ho-ho!
Bells are a-ringing, drug futures are bright!
They're having,
...(Fun they are having.) Higher profits every day!
All together for this verse only:
Oh, profits how they grow,
Since the Congress paved their way,
In a "quid pro quo,"
Laughing while we pay! Ho-ho-ho!
Pharmaceutical
Proceeds looking bright!
What fun they have! They laugh and sing,
Their earnings strong tonight!
Sung at almost a shout:
Oh, Medicare, Medicare,
...(Oh, listen, the sales are ringing) Medicare Part D!
...(Sing-a-bling-ching-ching) Oh, what fun! The timing's right!
...(They're not a bit contrite.) Con Social Security!
...(No end in sight! Golden opportunity!)
Oh, Medicare, Medicare,
...(Oh, listen, our coins are singing.) Medicare Part D!
...(Ting-a-ling-jing-jing) Oh, what fun, for those with might!
...(Oh, stockholders' delight!) A drop-dead certainty!
...(Our sorry plight and our new reality!)
Sung at almost a whisper:
Oh, listen, cartels are singing.
...(Sing-a-ling-ching-ching) Oh, listen, stock bells are ringing.
...(Ting-a-ling-jing-jing)
If $400 billion in new federal spending goes to a Medicare drug benefit starting in 2006, we concluded that drug manufacturers' profits would rise by $139.2 billion over eight years.
From the Waxman analysis:
It finds that in the six months after January 1, 2006, when the Medicare drug program went into effect, pharmaceutical industry profits increased by over $8 billion.
Let's do the math. $8M in 6 months = $16M per year x 8 years = $128M. Toss in some inflation and we get pretty much what the BU authors predicted.
Baffled? Overwhelmed? Enraged? I am! I think you know by now what that means...
Hark! It's Medicare Part D!
Glory to the new drug kings!
High net worth and earnings wild.
Record profits they have filed!
Joyful, compensations rise.
Join the triumph, claim the prize!
Alcoholic toasts proclaim,
"We've created mass mayhem!"
Hark! It's Medicare Part D!
Glory to the new drug kings!
To wrap things up, I'm steering you and your sleigh back to square one - the Wikipedia article. When you have the time, please consider clicking through to the numerous sites offered in the section External Links.
I sincerely hope you're having a grand Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Adha Eid, HumanLight, Yule, Festivus, Bodhi Day, or Saturnalia celebration and that you liked the holiday parodies for progressives.
What is health justice? How are health & human rights fiercely connected to the wellness of our neighborhoods? How do we reframe policy debates? How do we continue dreaming and building instead of just reacting & surviving? And how do we support each other in our healing?
Cure This is an online space for storytelling, discussion, reflection and building around healing justice. Create an account to write a diary or comment. Questions or thoughts: lotusfeet [at] hotmail [dot] com
News: CureThis was part of an exhibit in Chicago: "Visual resistance in feminist health movements, 1969-2009" [link]
