"Sick"/Evan Levine, M.D. on "The Paula Gordon Show: Conversations with People at the Leading Edge" - 08/01/05

Article from PaulaGordon.com

      Atlanta/July 16, 2005   Everyone's worried about health care in America but no one's addressing the systemic problems, says Dr. Evan Levine, cardiologist and author. "Health care should not be big business. After all, we're talking about people's lives here, we're not talking about a car that breaks down or when your garbage gets picked up. And America's health care system stinks."

      Health care is America's biggest industry, Dr. Levine points out, upset about the results Americans get for their annual $1.5 trillion, with more than 43 million people uninsured.

      "We all need to be upset. The whole system's topsy-turvey. Where's the money going, folks? Good physicians -- and most doctors are great, hardworking, honest people -- and patients are being taken for a ride by big business. Full Story...

Drug plan providers push to attract Medicare patients - 08/01/05

Article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Online

And so it begins, the race to lure patients into new Medicare drug plans, and the scramble to explain how senior citizens can take advantage of the benefits to help pay for medicine.

While Humana Inc. and Wal-Mart stores began reaching out to potential drug consumers in South Florida and around the nation, a network of 40 national organizations launched an education and advertising campaign Tuesday to encourage patients to enroll in drug plans starting in November.

"You can save hundreds of dollars a year," a narrator, wearing doctor's garb, tells viewers in nationwide television ads starting today. "But you have to sign up."

The education and ad campaigns coincide with widespread confusion and some skepticism about the prescription-drug benefits approved by Congress in 2003. The public mood has soured in part by drug prices, which continue to rise sharply along with other health-care costs.

"Thank goodness I'm not on many drugs," said Grace Krommes, a retiree from Delray Beach, who isn't sure the benefits will be worthwhile for her. "But you know, my day may come." Full Story...

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