Medisucks Part D update (BBI)
"First, the voices return. Next, it's the suicidal thoughts. Without the prescription medication that controls their mental illness, they turn to self-medication using drugs or alcohol."
It sounds kind of overly dramatic, but Jo Ciavaglia's article for the Bucks County Courier Times, a publication often mocked by my colleague D-Mac, is well reported and a micro reflection of what's happening across the country:
"These people are having enough trouble getting through the day, let alone getting their medications," said Anita D'Antonio, a Warminister Hospital spokeswoman. "It's very disturbing."
The quandry raises the question: Who do we care about less: the elderly or the mentally ill?
Comments
Medicare Part D gets a D - Of my first nine formulary prescriptions under Part D, my PDP has covered only four. (I guess I could technically give Medicare Part D an F but I am easy grader.) Yes, I selected a PDP in a timely fashion. Yes, I'm a dual eligible who originally had a PDP selected on the basis of "Intelligent Random Selection." (Random, yes. Intelligent, no.) Yes, I'm sure all the drugs are in my PDP's formulary. Yes, the PDP assures me that it is covering all my prescriptions despite its own on-line system showing only four being covered. Yes, my pharmacy says that Medicaid is temporarily paying for my PDP covered, actually uncovered, prescriptions. No, Part D is working as promised.
NAMI supported this misadventure by going as far as including an employee on Bob's Dole's Magical Mystery Medicare Part D Tour sponsored by Pfizer (1,2,3). Ah, now I'm waiting for an exception request for 60 mg. of Lexapro daily. Didn't NAMI appreciate that MH consumers often take multiples of the maximum recommended dosage for our "biologically based brain disorders" or could it be that the needs of consumer members were overshadowed by the interests of its major funders? (4,5)
(1)http://www.pharmacychoice.com/News/article.cfm?Article_ID=13152
(2)http://www.aol.hispanicbusiness.com/news/news_print.asp?id=15450
(3)http://www.diabetesmovies.com/fullstory.cfm?Date=8/26/2004&storyID=2539&fback=no&defaultyear=2004
(4)http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1999/11/nami.html
(5)http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2001/8.html
Posted by: Joe | January 29, 2006 02:52 PM