Yesterday saw the opening day of the month-and-a-half-long re-enrollment period for Medicare Part D, also known as that damn $700 billion-over-10-years boondoggle.
In other news yesterday, Wal-Mart expanded its $4/month generic prescription drug plan to 11 more states. Oh, and BJ's Wholesale Club got in on the cheap drug action too, saying they'll offer $4 generics, and you don't even have to be a member of the Club.
Great news, right? So why were those stories left out of Charlie Gibson's "World News" in favor of footage of confused or angry seniors grappling with government red tape and prescription plan fine print?
See my story on that here.



















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Comments Policy
I don't know about
November 15, 2007 - 11:06 ET by GordmanI don't know about prescription drugs, I am skeptical about cheap prices, I think we need a more complex approach here as I think prescription drug addiction could reach higher quotes this way. It's not really just about prices, it's also about prescription policy.
Written by demo-libs?There is
November 16, 2006 - 12:58 ET by FastEdWritten by demo-libs?
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad
geezer rage
November 16, 2006 - 13:19 ET by RackieAt what age does one become "angry and confused"? I'm so looking foward to wearing stripes and plaids together, a floppy hat, sky blue stretch Levi's, white walking(shuffling) shoes and being a demanding, selfish, totally self-absorbed know it all, pain in the ass. Oh, and that "nap hair", totally cool. Don't hate me because I'm old.
Rackie ---hold up there son!!!
November 16, 2006 - 13:32 ET by misterbillRackie ---hold up there son!!!
I have been angry and confused for years. I don't know how much of it is due to old age because it started so long ago. I am a know it all, pain in the ass, always have been! Largely because I do know it all and I don't mind telling everyone that I do. If I didn't know anything I would be a dingbat liberal. I would not even allow myself to be buried in a mixture of stripes and plaids. My corpse would burst into spontaneous combustion! One would have to be blind to do that.Look around, it is the youing people who dress that way!
I'm a septegenarian. I got more action when I was a sexegenarian! Oh, well, that's life!
Get old ain't for whuses
November 16, 2006 - 14:03 ET by RackieMisterBill --more action, huh? what, you hangin' out at a taffy pull?
just kidding - I look at the men a generation ahead of me and think WTFH. War fighters, tango dancers, lovers, rough and tumble guys with grips like steel and now, for
cripe sake, they're out walking a little rat like dogs and...well, you get my drift. It ain't pretty.
rackie-- joke
November 16, 2006 - 14:11 ET by misterbillrackie-- joke A long time ago there was a joke about an older pastor whose memory was dimming and he was messing up the announcements. One day he asked the younger minister, "What was wrong with today's announcement?". The younger minister said. "Well father, we are having a taffy pull at St. Peter's not a peter pull at St. Taffy's".
Hee hee!
As my father once explained i
November 16, 2006 - 14:50 ET by Sua SponteAs my father once explained it..."Son, the bull is getting old"
The bull may be getting old,
November 16, 2006 - 14:54 ET by MightyMouthThe bull may be getting old, but he still has the horns. :-)
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
in other words
November 16, 2006 - 14:56 ET by tumblerHey, another old joke:
Why did they kill the hog?
He'd gotten way too cheeky.
Hows about "There may sn
November 16, 2006 - 15:28 ET by FastEdHows about "There may snow on the roof, but there's still a fire in the fireplace!"
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad
Two bulls are standing on the
November 16, 2006 - 15:40 ET by MightyMouthTwo bulls are standing on the hill top admiring a herd of cows below.
The younger bull says to the old bull "hey, let's run down there and stampede those cows so we can have our way with one of them!
The older bull looks at the younger and says "I have a better idea. Let's walk down and have our way with all of 'em"
"There are two types of people in this country; those who provide freedom and those who enjoy it." MM says...
and the democrat replies
November 16, 2006 - 15:42 ET by misterbilldem: "oh those poor cows. How can we let those horrible bulls do that to them?" "Oh, what, you say the cows seem to be enjoying it, Oh my heavens, democrats don't."
Considering the state of affa
November 16, 2006 - 15:33 ET by Dan The Man 2Considering the state of affairs, pun, in the Catholic church clergy - it makes one wonder if the first was not right.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark. -- save my gun, shoot a liberal.
Just so's youz know - if I sh
November 16, 2006 - 15:34 ET by FastEdJust so's youz know - if I should suddenly NOT post here, it's becasue I've given my daughter permission to shoot me if I start wearing white shoes, white belt, blue pants, blue floppy hat or those "virtual reality sun glasses".
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad
...that damn $700 billion-ove
November 16, 2006 - 13:10 ET by Dave R...that damn $700 billion-over-10-years...
If that's all it ends up costing us, it will be a bargain given the government's appalling history of predicting the cost of entitlement programs over time.
Just another gift from that "extremist radical conservative" George W. Bush.
Please, George, no more gifts, okay?
Thanks Wal-Mart: Media prefers aged do with out.
November 16, 2006 - 13:48 ET by PlaceboOf course, the leftists, the media and all despise Wal-Mart… the big bad wolf of retail. They’d prefer we go the old commie way; queued up for bread eggs and meat for days; and the need to buy medications on the black-market. Of course, as back in the good old USSR days, the elitists, the media et al, would have well stocked government controlled department stores.
Wal-Mart, in their distorted leftist view, is nothing more than a black-hole sucking in the proletariats’ money. Now, because of Wal-Mart’s retail chutzpah with prescription drugs, we can afford medications. A prescriptions that not long ago was unaffordable; in fear of not being able to eat, or have a roof over our heads, is now. That, in the media’s jaundiced view, is opiates of the masses.
Gibson & Company Hate Wal-Mart = Successful Capitalism
November 16, 2006 - 14:09 ET by daveinbocaI actually worked for ABC-TV News back in the day and can attest that the only people they consider for news production jobs are proven liberals [I had just come off John Anderson's campaign staff, so that dates me as a fossil-man. I only got the job because Reagan had won the presidency and they had to "reach out" to RINOs] who will produce news shows through the prism of the fashionable bolshie chattering classes.
That is the audience that network broadcast news aims for, a small sliver of the electorate, and Wal-Mart's spectacular success is a complete rebuke to these network moguls' elitist values. Target is owned by the Dayton family and run by leftist elitists like James Johnson and Richard Holbrooke. Dayton was the far-left whacko-Senator from Minnesota. Don't look for the media to target Target [sorry] even though they also spurn unions. Target is where fashionable lefties shop, when they are slumming.
Can you imagine any single network news commentator being caught dead in a Wal-Mart?
Dead in Wal-Mart
November 16, 2006 - 17:00 ET by allanfI can't imagine Charley, Katie or Brian visiting Wal-Mart. As you know there are no Wal-Mart stores in Manhattan. That is not an accident!!! Quality merchandise at a low price through a free market is an anathema to that crowd. Perhaps John Stossel or his friend David Crulwich might.
In case you have a place in Boca Raton, Charley, Katie or Brian there is a Wal-Mart at Palmetto and 441. Give it a try.
all Good news is ignored
November 16, 2006 - 14:13 ET by ChasvsSo what is so different that you'd expect the MSM to cover good news about drug prices? This is the MSM that found problems with our economy before the election. The same MSM that has never reported a positive story from Iraq. The same MSM that came all over themselves over Jack,cut and run Murtha and didn't cover his abscam "issue" until after the election and he was running for House majority Leader.. oh, NOW it's an issue?
The MSM knows they lead the public by the nose and can shape the issue and throw an election anyway they want these days. whether it's race issues, polictical, or defense, they select the "news" that best meets their desires and cover it until they have the effect they want.
Thank God for Blogs!
TV snooze
November 16, 2006 - 14:46 ET by RackieI assume that by MSM you mean the networks and the major print media. But what about your local news shows. At my bend in the river the locals seem to aim their folksy, simplemind delivery at 8th graders, the institutionalized, and the otherwise easily amused. Lots of pretty pictures, weather stories, animals, car crashes, traffic jams, and the obligitory breaking news about some specious clap trap of dubious value. I don't think I've ever found anything I've heard on the news to be useful. What's really jaw dropping is that well paid adults think they are doing the community a service by putting this useless crap out day after day after day. Thank goodness I have "Friends".
the bad news
November 16, 2006 - 14:50 ET by misterbillthe bad news --- at these prices I can afford to be ill!
Hillary-Mart
November 16, 2006 - 19:43 ET by acumen"So why were those stories left out of Charlie Gibson's "World News" in favor of footage of confused or angry seniors grappling with government red tape and prescription plan fine print?"
Short answer - Because Hillary isn't President yet and only 'herself' is capable of fixing America's medical woes. Her thighness has that legacy ailment to tweak. Stay tuned.....
If Wal-Mart was smart they would just rename themselves Hillary-Mart.
Acumen,Her thighness....too f
November 16, 2006 - 19:49 ET by BlondeAcumen,
Her thighness....too funny!
I thought Her Royal Clinton was good....but that is better by the nth degree.
If Wal-Mart was smart they wo
November 16, 2006 - 21:56 ET by FastEdIf Wal-Mart was smart they would just rename themselves Hillary-Mart. - Think see's keeping a low profile, to see how things shake out - I'd think there's more a possibility of Murtha-Mart. We redeploy prices, back to what they should be. We cut, you run.
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad
The reason this wasn't report
November 16, 2006 - 21:18 ET by bigtimerThe reason this wasn't reported is because the dem's plan on making mince-meat of medicare part D if they can... over eighty per-cent of the people that have it...like it!
It wasn't the big bad boogie man and it didn't leave everyone all confused...darn it!
I hope they try and bring it on!