take19 - TAKEN!!!

May 15th has come and gone and with it an important deadline has passed for seniors. May 15th was the deadline for seniors to enroll in the Republican Medicare Part (D) prescription drug program. Failure to enroll in this program carries hefty penalties for senior citizens which can mean a huge lifetime increase in premium costs as well as lack of prescription drug coverage until 2007. For every month past yesterday's deadline a senior will be charged an extra 1% in premium costs until they enroll.

Due to the mass confusion over the plan and the horror stories from those that have had poor experiences so far, many of those eligible have not yet signed up. As a result there has been a call from many politicians, including some Republicans, to extend the Part D enrollment deadline. This call had been rebuffed by President Bush and Bush lackeys such as Sue Kelly. At a time when our seniors need some consideration and compassion, Sue Kelly provides nothing and instead follows the lead of the President.

This Republican and lobbyist created program is nothing more than a giveaway to the insurance and prescription drug industries and is already having a negative impact on many senior citizens. Even conservative Republican Senator John McCain said:

"There's no doubt in my mind that the drug industry got everything
it wanted and more," he said "It perhaps should be called the
'Leave-No-Lobbyist-Behind Bill ' "

Republican Senator Dan Burton had this to say:

“Seniors, when they find out what's in that bill, are gonna be very angry The problem is, they're not gonna find out about it until after this next election "

In typical fashion, Sue Kelly acts as both a Bush enabler and a friend to big business while her constituents wind up with the short end of the stick. Sue, people are calling out for your help and your silence is deafening.

Update - 5-17-06: It appears that Sue has finally come around, just a bit. After using the fear of the May 15th deadline to rush seniors into possibly making rushed and possibly uninformed decisions, Sue has just come around (according to the 'unofficial website' of the campaign) and is now claiming to support elimination of the late signup penalty for this year. Is this just some more of Sue's lip service? Time will tell. Meanwhile, the question remains, why did Sue Kelly support and vote for this complete giveaway to the insurance and prescription drug industries?