Charles Grassley:

"Dr. McClellan has worked to fix the problems.  I hope his departure doesn't cause delays in getting Part D snags fixed for beneficiaries and that he'll correct all known problems before he leaves."

Reminder:  the leglislation for the Medicare Modernization Act was signed in 2003.

continued

Democratic Party response below

This is further demonstrated in Voting Machines Sitting in FL Living Rooms by Alf Ranken which states "Apparently, since Early Voting starts "early in the morning" Monday, the (Republican) Supervisor of Elections decided it was best to send the voting machines home for the weekend with the poll workers.

continued

This view is being supported by those Republicans who insist that immigrants must learn and use English.

Eighty Republicans signed a letter written by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) objecting to provisions of the Voting Rights Act's provisions requiring state and local governments to print ballots in foreign languages, or, to provide interpreters where there is a need for them, claiming that doing so is an unfunded mandate. The letter further stated

"The multilingual ballot mandate encourages the linguistic division of our nation and contradicts the 'Melting Pot' ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth."

continued

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s article in Rolling Stone leaves too many unanswered questions.  There have been subsequent events that are cause for serious concern.

It has been reported BY AN INDEPENDENT SOURCE, that Mitch Given, a registered lobbyist for Diebold Election Systems, one of the vendors of voting machines for election boards in Ohio, gave Blackwell the maximum $10,000.00 donation.

continued

With the primary elections approaching, six states have lawsuits pendng to end the purchase and use of computerized electronic voting machines. Voter Action filed Thursday against Colorado (and nine counties).  There were similar lawsuits in California and Arizona this spring and New Mexico last year. Others targeted computerized electronic voting in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Six of these states will be using some touch screen voting machines.

Claims being made are the machines are vulnerable to software tampering, don't keep a recountable printed record, may miscount, switch/not record votes, and add phantom votes.

continued

''Blackwell made Katherine Harris look like a cupcake. He saw his role as limiting the participation of Democratic voters. We had hearings in Columbus for two days. We could have stayed two weeks, the level of fury was so high. Thousands of people wanted to testify. Nothing like this had ever happened to them before.''

It documents the events in Ohio before and after the 2004 election. The first red flag was the results of the exit polling compared to the results that of the election. The second that was detailed is the illegal behavior of Kenneth Blackwell. One of the many charges that is made in the article is the lack of voting machines in inner city precints.

contnued

continued

In response to the unfair restrictions re: Part D, specifically, the closing of enrollment, the coverage gap, and the hidden restrictions on the formularies, as detailed in a report by Henry Waxman, a group of seniors went to Congressman Ray LaHood's office Thursday with empty pill bottles, symbolizing the thousands of prescriptions that will go unfilled because of the missed deadline.

In addition, the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans wrote a letter to Congressman LaHood, requesting the deadline be changed.

Thanks in advance for signing it and the summary of the past diaries for other information is below.

Furfaro who previously had a heart-transplant, discovered he'd hit the doughnut hole (coverage gap)last month after getting refills for immunosuppressants. medications. The pharmacist charged him $661 and $329 for the prescriptions, instead of his co-pays.

Furfaro wasn't told about the doughnut hole when his coverage changed in January.

"I threw a fit.  What am I supposed to do? I don't have $661 in my pocket.  I thought, `That's it. It's over.' The three years I put into the transplant, the waiting and everything. It was a waste of time because I can't get my medicine."

continued

Senator Carl Levin:

The nomination of a new Director for the Central Intelligence Agency comes at a time when the Agency is in disarray. Its current Director has apparently been forced out, and the previous Director, George Tenet, left under a cloud after having compromised his own objectivity and independence, and that of his Agency, by misusing Iraq intelligence to support the Administration's policy agenda.

The new Director must be certain that the intelligence provided to the President and Congress is "timely, objective, (and) independent of political considerations."

General Michael Hayden been nominated to replace George Tenent. Hayden has stated:

"This responsibility applies not only to the DNI and D/CIA, personally, but to all intelligence produced by the Intelligence Community."

continued below

Members are being asked to vote on a non-binding resolution stating that appropriations for Labor-Health and Human Services-Education programs be $7.2 billion higher than the President's proposal - provided they pay for the increase with cuts in other programs.  Some reports suggest that these cuts could come from entitlement programs (such as Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, student loans, etc.).  There is no assurance that the extra funds would not come from cuts in other domestic services, either those that need annual funding (housing, veterans, nutrition, environment, etc.) or ongoing programs like Medicaid.

continued

Mark McClellan of CMS:

"We've seen a real surge [in enrollments].  The deadline is making a difference."

McClellan also claimed calls would be taken until 3 a.m. Eastern Time. Those who were unable to talk to a real person and left a message requesting a return call would be contacted in a couple of days and be allowed to enroll without any penalty assessed.

continued

If Part D is an issue in the mid-terms, it is possible that an increasing number of Republicans would agree to this.

As in January, some who are low-income are being overcharged at pharmacies. Others are in different drug plans different plans, instead of the one they had selected.

At midnight, the enrollment period for Part D will end.  Those who sign up later will have to pay a lifetime penalty.  The description of which has not been specified on the medicare.gov website, as an example has been used instead.

Today, Michaeal Leavitt is quoted as saying,

"They needed that deadline or they wouldn't sign up.  In fact, the actuary for the government told us if we didn't have a deadline, 1.6 million people fewer would actually sign up."

In addition,

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending the deadline through December would bring in 1 million more enrollees. But the government would forfeit $100 million in late fees this year, which would grow to $3.4 billion over 10 years.

Is that the real reason for not extending the enrollment period, despite repeated requests by the citizens/voters of this country to do so?

Dr. Jerry Avorn wrote in the April 18 New England Journal of Medicine,

"Despite its youth, the Medicare drug benefit is already chronically ill. ... Debate continues over whether its early spasticity was caused by inept management of its birth or a genetic disorder present at its creation."

The AARP, still believes Part D is undergoing growing pains, found that for the sixth straight year, the prices for 193 brand-name prescription drugs rose, by 6 percent in 2005, and over the six years they soared by 40 percent.  This is higher than the rate of inflation.

AARP's director of policy and strategy,John Rother

"Drug affordability continues to be a major challenge, and AARP is fighting high drug costs on many fronts."

Despite his statement, no specifics are mentioned.

continued

Peter Ashkenaz of CMS, admitted that the defintion of the penalty formula is incorrect, and does not know when it will be corrected.  On Friday, he decribed the real penalty formula, however he was unalbe to show it on the Medicare website.

However, in February, Medicare posted an incorrect explanation of how the penalty is caluclated.  Now it is the end of April, and Ashkenas does not know when the correct information would be posted.

And, the Chicago Tribune had more infomation about the penalty.

continued below