Comments on: The optimist sees the donut

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 10 May 2006 23:06:16 +0000

And if they try to quickly patch the donut hole, it’ll drive up the defecit and probably drive up interest rates, thus gutting the value of seniors’ bond holdings.

By: fatbear

fatbear — Wed, 10 May 2006 22:13:09 +0000

The question is not how many seniors will get hit, but how many (a dozen or so is all that’s needed) get national press coverage for being denied (even temporarily) life-saving drugs. Think Terri Schiavo, except in reverse.

By: Jane Galt

Jane Galt — Wed, 10 May 2006 19:23:16 +0000

Ummm . . . it seems to me that before the “donut hole” hits, all those seniors will have had six months of the government paying for their prescriptions. If they’re paying $400 a month, that’s $2400 in their pockets that they didn’t have before. It’s not clear to me that the political NPV is negative here–particularly since there are a lot of seniors who don’t spend more than $2400 a year on drugs, and a lot more who spend an even huger amount, and get almost all of it covered. No doubt the Republicans will take a small hit from the donut hole . . . but it seems to me that they’ll probably get a big plus for the drug payments.

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 10 May 2006 15:46:20 +0000

“I can’t see how to attribute this to any sort of bias on the part of the Times or its reporters. ************Even if I thought that the Times management was as willing to go into the tank for Bush as the management of the Washington Post*************, I can’t see how omitting the key operational fact now would serve any purpose. (Omitting that fact when the plan was before the Congress was a different story.)” (emphasis added)
Uh, Bush’s Voodoo II economics, the Iraq War, Swift Liars, the list goes on.

By: David Weigel

David Weigel — Wed, 10 May 2006 13:38:40 +0000

The doughnut hole is not a problem. It’s an opportunity. In October, when a goodly number of seniors hit the hole and sob stories hit Dateline NBC and 60 Minutes, Congress will break from its recess in a grand show of compassion and rush back into session. Congressmen will fill the hole with general fund money, and return home to their districts as heroes.
Message: they care.

By: dmh

dmh — Wed, 10 May 2006 11:50:07 +0000

I had the same reaction and went back to see the byline. Sure enough, in their utter folly the Times editors published a Part D story without having Bob Pear reporting it. It is not merely a case of the newspaper not knowing the details but a newspaper not consulting its own reporter who certainly knows about the donut hole and who probably knows more about Part D than any reporter in the country. What could they possibly be thinking?

By: serial catowner

serial catowner — Wed, 10 May 2006 11:45:34 +0000

I used to watch the people ahead of me in line pay for their prescriptions. I would guess the average amount I saw (which obviously has no statistical validity) was over $300.
So I’m guessing ‘donut hole time’ will be about the middle of October.