Chillicothe Gazette - www.chillicothegazette.com - Chillicothe, OH

Chillicothe Gazette - www.chillicothegazette.com - Chillicothe, OH: "Early glitches show in drug plan"

"Confusion over the new Medicare prescription drug benefit left at least one Ross County man without much-needed medication for two days - a problem that has been shared by several seniors nationwide."

Worst case scenario - "Nationwide, tens of thousands of elderly people - particularly those with lower incomes - may have had trouble getting their medicine during the first two weeks of the government's prescription drug benefit, and about 20 states have been forced to step in to help them, the top Medicare official acknowledges."

The first paragraph is the reality thus far, and of course the following paragraph has to be included. I cannot fathom the logisitics of a move like this. Hopefully one would take pause before rushing to a "national" healthcare system, especially with the many examples of nations with them. If nothing else, learn from their mistakes rather than just think we would do better.

"We are pleased with the successes of the program and are working with (the Health and Human Services Department) to resolve the problems, which will naturally occur when implementing a program of this magnitude," spokeswoman for Bill Frist Amy Call. "But at the end of the day seniors will have better access to prescription drugs."

We tend never to see that which is successful, only failures. Instead the media really should ty to concentrate more on what has succeeded. This makes it all the easier to identify where fixes to a system/process should be made.