Education in Hot Water

When we stopped expecting kids to master content in order to feel good about themselves and instead tried to "give them self esteem," the handwriting was on the teabag.

Angry at the GOVERNMENT?

Angry at the GOVERNMENT? I have a suggestion.

Instead of relying on the biased, simplistic, sound bites regurgitated by FOX "News" and then railing against the government at "Tea Parties," why not actually learn the facts about the problems which face our nation, support political leaders who are working to solve them, and work to defeat those opposing everything President Obama tries to do for the country in order to save their own political skins? 


Responsible behavior like that would go a long way to ensure that "government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth" as a result of willful ignorance.

Or is that just too much to ask of Americans with so many "more important" things to do?

Happy Tax Day

The Columbus Dispatch buried the article below on page B3 and surrounded it with advertising.

Apparently, news of a government-run health-care initiative that works, and works well, is just too controversial for the conservative-leaning Dispatch. After all, if they're exposed to information like this, the voters might begin to question the right-wing's unsubstantiated claim that government is the problem.

    On Feb. 1, the state created a single, statewide drug formulary for all Medicaid programs, replacing eight different managed-care pharmacy plans. The change was included in the two-year state budget approved last summer.

I'm waiting for the "teabaggers" to call it socialism.

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State, patients, doctors like new Medicaid drug plan
By Catherine Candisky

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

  When the state took back control of Medicaid's prescription-drug program last year, there was a lot of talk about how the move would save millions.

    It has.
    But it's also making it easier for patients to get the medications they need.
    An analysis by the Ohio Coalition for Patient Rights found that Medicaid patients have improved access to "quality and appropriate" treatments and medications.
    The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has succeeded in reducing the roadblocks to patients getting the drugs prescribed by their doctors without potentially costly delays, said Cheri L. Walter, coalition chairwoman and head of the Ohio Association of County Behavioral Health Authorities.
    On Feb. 1, the state created a single, statewide drug formulary for all Medicaid programs, replacing eight different managed-care pharmacy plans. The change was included in the two-year state budget approved last summer.
    At the time, state officials said the so-called carve-out would save money because the state is eligible for savings programs such as drugcompany rebates.
    "The most recent savings estimate that we have related to the pharmacy carve-out is $243.6 million, the vast majority of which will be realized in (fiscal year 2011) due to the timing of claims and manufacturers' rebates," said Brian Harter, spokesman for the Department of Job and Family Services, which oversees the state Medicaid program. 
    The Coalition for Patient Rights' analysis compared access to 122 drugs for health conditions including asthma, heart disease, diabetes and mental illness. It found that the state formulary, in many instances, placed fewer restrictions on patients' ability to obtain medications prescribed by their doctor.
    Such restrictions include the need for prior authorization from the insurer before a drug can be obtained and requiring patients to try different drugs before medications prescribed by their doctors can be made available.
    Physicians also are applauding the change.
    "We supported the idea of the carve-out because each managed-care company had its own formulary, and from an administrative perspective, it was a nightmare," said Ann Spicer of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians.
    "It's much simpler dealing with a single formulary, and the number of prior authorizations have been drastically reduced."
    Harter said the positive feedback was welcome news.
    "We have received positive feedback from many doctors and pharmacists since the carve-out became effective in February," he said.
    ccandisky@dispatch.com