This has been
one heck of a week for pharmacists. The
Medicare Part D [PDF] drug plan has been up and running for five full days now. How is it working?
The New York Times found:
Some Medicare
beneficiaries were pleasantly surprised and saved money, but others
were frustrated this week as the prescription drug benefit got off to
an uneven start across the country.
People who applied
early and had identification cards in hand were often able to fill
prescriptions through the new program, the most significant expansion
of Medicare since its creation 40 years ago. But others were stymied in
their efforts to take advantage of the drug benefit, as pharmacists
spent hours trying to confirm eligibility and enrollment by telephone
and computer.
The Times said pharmacists have to wait up to an hour to get answers from such calls.
New Postal Rate Begins Sunday
I suspect people will be running to the post office
today, to buy those annoying two-cent stamps to add to their leftover
first-class stamps. On Sunday, the new postage rate begins. The Baltimore Sun said this increase affects more than just folks paying their bills or writing letters:
The move is part of
an across-the-board increase, averaging 5 percent, that will affect the
cost of almost all domestic mail delivery and services. It includes
bulk, priority and express mail, and delivery confirmation, return
receipt and certified mail services. International rates will go up
about 6 percent.
Two cents might not sound like much of an increase
until you see what it means to a big mailer, like a utility company, a
credit-card company, your city water department, a hospital billing
department, a big church or a university.
New Mileage Reimbursement Rate Coming Today
GovExec.com,
an online newsletter created by Government Executive magazine, says the feds will announce a
lower reimbursement rate for people who use their own cars on
government business. This is big news for more than just federal government
business, because many governments and businesses key their
reimbursement rates to the federal government rates. People from home
health nurses to journalists will be getting lower rates. The Web site
said:
The General Services Administration will
announce a new mileage reimbursement rate Friday, lowering it 4 cents
to 44.5 cents per mile for 2006.
The rate, which applies to employees who
use personal vehicles for government business, is retroactive for all
official travel performed on or after Jan. 1, 2006, a draft of an
announcement signed by acting GSA administrator David Bibb on Dec. 21, 2005, stated. The document will be published in the Federal Register Friday, according to GSA.
The 44.5-cent rate still exceeds the
2004 reimbursement level of 40.5 cents. After the gas price spike in
September, the Internal Revenue Service made a special one-time adjustment, bringing the mileage rate from 40.5 cents per mile to 48.5 cents. GSA followed the IRS' lead less than a week later.
Online Weight-Loss Help
So, how's it going with that New Year's resolution to lose weight?
My buddy Mike Wendland takes a tour of ChowBaby.com's fast-food calorie listing page for just about every fast-food joint under the sun.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible.
