dammit medicare. . .

i work with low-income people who are on medicaid and/or medicare. most of what my job entails is mopping up the innumerable messes created by systems that are run by completely incompetent people and a society that doesn't seem to think that this is a problem.

to make a long story short, medicare sends out member handbooks to its members every year. this year, of course, has an extra section "explaining" the new prescription drug benefit. last week, after all the handbooks were printed and scheduled to be sent out this week, it came out that there were some pretty significant errors in that section, particularly in the section that would apply to the help low-income members can receive getting into the plans.

this is ridiculous. the plan is already so insanely confusing, and now the people that members will look to for help figuring it out are disseminating incorrect information that will make it more or less impossible for someone to understand this and get the benefits they need. i must say, it is simply pathetic.

a spokesperson from the center for medicaid and medicare services attributed the error to "inadequate proofreading." now, i am also a student, and i admit to handing in essays with a double "the" or an incorrectly formatted footnote. but something that goes out to 35 million of the country's most vulnerable people that is supposed to help them understand how to gain access to the medications they need to stay alive and well??? i think i might have done a little more than run it through spellcheck.