[Boomer]

January 1, 2006, is when Medicare Plan D went into effect.

Before that, there was no drug coverage under Medicare.

Although I was not yet to Medicare age, I knew how health insurance worked — or didn’t — because for years I had been part of a contract negotiations team. Health insurance coverage was always a big part of those negotiations.

I was at that negotiations table for most of the 1990s, and well into this century, whenever contract time rolled around. I witnessed a lot of changes during those years.

(When the drug card came in, I thought it could turn out to be a Trojan Horse. But everybody wanted one — and damn, I was right.

Those drug cards contributed to skyrocketing drug costs because the card made it so nobody paid much attention to cost as long as the coverage was there.

Before the drug cards, we paid upfront for our prescriptions, kept the receipts, and sent them in for reimbursement. I cannot imagine doing that now. The chunk of money it would cost before reimbursement would trash a lot of budgets. But ooooooh — those drug cards sure were welcomed in to be “celebrated” — just like that Trojan Horse.)

When Plan D was implemented for Medicare in 2006, although I was not there yet, I remember when it happened and I remember what I thought at the time.

Thought 1: I thought — and think — Plan D is a good thing because before that, there was no drug coverage for those on Medicare and there were people going without needed prescriptions or splitting what they could afford into smaller dosages — not as prescribed — to make the pills “last longer.”

Thought 2: At the time it happened, I remember saying, “Ya know, although it’s a good thing to have drug coverage for those on Medicare — that sure seemed to get through into law — FAST. Somebody is in bed with the drug companies. And now drug companies hold all the cards and costs are insane. And please spare me the pipeline mantra. Sure, it’s there and it is important, but that’s not where all of it goes. Profit is OK, of course, but c’mon. Geez.

Cassandra Boomer