While I don't enjoy seeing you die the way the Christians do....

...I do take particular joy in this, from the New York Times:

Pharmacists say they have been losing money under Medicare's new prescription drug benefit, and they have taken their concerns to the White House, forcing the administration to confront political problems caused by the rocky start of the program.


In a meeting last week with Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, the druggists said many independent pharmacies might have to shut their doors because they were not being paid adequately or promptly under Medicare. In the last two months, they said, pharmacists have given away millions of dollars' worth of medications for which Medicare drug plans should have paid.

The pharmacists who visited the White House were all from Texas. Several have close ties to Mr. Rove and President Bush. But their concerns are shared by retail pharmacists across the country, who said that Medicare drug plans were paying them less than it cost to fill prescriptions for the beneficiaries.

Now these guys probably are losing big bucks giving away meds the feds should have been paying for, I've been doing it myself (fortunately I work for a company that makes a fucbillion dollars a second & can afford to ride out this fed screwing), and they are probably getting paid less that it costs them to fill some of these Medicare Rx's, as insurance reimbursements to pharmacies have been getting squeezed for years, the biggest reason your friendly corner drugstore is going the way of the dinosaur. So why on earth would I take delight in the financial suffering of my fellow members of the profession? Karma baby....this whole Medicare Part D(isater) is karma coming around and smacking these boys in the face. I'll elaborate:

Most pharmacists are pansy products of privilege, who have never faced any adversity in their life, & think just because they were able to memorize a shitload and a half of information to get through pharmacy school and land a good paying job, then there is no reason why everyone can't do the same. This makes them good Republicans, who as a party can't understand why everyone on earth can't be in the 90th percentile. Because of this, Republicans & (most)Pharmacists love to look down on and screw people lower on the societal food chain than them. (most) Pharmacists HATE Medicaid customers, you should hear the comments they won't say to your face poor people. (I on the other hand, while I hate a lot of customers for a lot of reasons, never have a quarrel with how money ends up in my pocket. I'm fully aware that I am a welfare queen, that the money the state spends to take care of the health needs of the poor flows into my paycheck.) Now, here's the thing; while (most) pharmacists think of themselves as among the elite of society, playing with their online brokerage accounts and relaxing in their McMansions, the people who live in the REAL mansions and have a REAL broker managing a hedge fund on their speed dial have decided it's the pharmacists turn for a screwing. The Republicans who wrote this Medicare Part D(isaster) bill bent over backwards to make sure Big Pharma....Pfizer, Merck, Glaxo Smith Kline and the bunch, would not see 1 cent of their enormous profits jeopardized with this plan, so bend over you Republican voting pharmacist stooge, and grab your ankles for the benefit of your social betters....but hey.....you've been so loyal to us in the past, we'll give you a few minutes face time with an aide to the President....hopefully so you'll continue to be stupid enough to let us screw you again in the future.....:)

Oh....and the prescriptions those boys are complaining about, where we end up giving meds to the patient so they don't die, those are more than likely for what they call "dual eligible" patients. Meaning the feds took over responsibility for drug coverage for people that had both Medicaid and Medicare coverage, and have promptly fucked it up. So it's the Medicaid people that (most)pharmacists hate so much that are the vehicle that the Republicans are using to screw 'em.....gotta love it when the karma works out so perfectly.....