Velma Berger – 2/14/06

This page was last updated on February 16, 2006.

Drug plan far too complex; Velma Berger; Beaver County Times; February 14, 2006.

This letter is the sixth Bush-bashing letter Ms. Berger’s written since February 2005. As you will see at the end, it is another example of why you should question her alleged facts. This critique is not to support the Medicare drug plan, which I oppose. It’s only to illustrate Ms. Berger’s tendency to attempt to mislead us.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“The new Medicare prescription drug program is just another failure of this administration. It is so complicated that the average person cannot decide if he or she should sign up or not.

“It is different for each individual depending on which drugs you take, the cost of the drug, how often you take it, etc.

“On the first week of the program, people were in line at many drug stores and some had to leave without their medications. The druggists could not honor some of their cards. This is ridiculous. Why can’t everyone have a card just like their Medicare card? I think it is because of too many loopholes. You are not receiving as much help as you think you are.

“Seniors can expect to see more services cut in the Medicare program. President Bush has proposed to cut $36 billion in Medicare over five years in the new budget. So much for health care.”

[RWC] It appears Ms. Berger gets her news from CBS. The alleged $36 billion Medicare “cut” was reported by “reporter” Jim Axelrod on the February 6^th broadcast of the CBS Evening News. The problem is the allegation is a lie. If you review the proposed budget, Medicare spending actually increases cumulatively $453 billion over the five-year period. Where did the $36 billion (It should be $38 billion.) come from? It’s a cut in spending increases. Remember, any time you hear about government spending cuts, 99 out of 100 times you can assume the cut is really only a cut in spending increases.