Nevada Officials: Get Off Your Butts and Fix the Budget!

Thus begins the rant of the day: I am in amazement that the State of Nevada continues to blast news of dwindling coffers and over-budget arguments when the state representatives refuse to look at the one area that can and would get us out of our hole with the expediency of a Space Shuttle launch: the casinos. It is a fact that the average state gaming tax in this country is 30% (figures contained within this blog come from the American Gaming Association website). While other states figure out that gaming taxes can be directly earmarked to pay for improved education, infrastructure and state programs, such as Medicaid, the State of Nevada has the LOWEST gaming tax in the nation, at 6.75%! We have the most gaming revenue of ANY state in the Union (and this is by a large percentage) and yet Nevada continues to allow the casinos to operate with massive profits (even with lower patron numbers, which by the way are very much skewed) and not have them pay their share. Our teachers are struggling to survive on an average wage of $27,957, while the median income for other workers in the state is $44,426 (teacherportal.com), and there are more cuts proposed. Gee, let's see if we can figure out why our state education rank is 49 (and 50 in some categories)! Until this state gets off its collective duff and start doing something about this short-fall in the state gaming tax, we will continue to see these numbers drop, and our student dropout rate will continue to rise. There is no way to attract better teachers to a state that refuses to provide them with adequate resources and salaries. A proposal that was put forth recently by the state legislature suggests implementing a state lottery to help pay for education and other needed programs, but of course the big casinos in Las Vegas want nothing to do with the "competition", as that means less money in their pockets. Let me propose this to the state...FORCE THE CASINOS' HAND (no pun intended). Give them an ultimatum: Pony up more money by way of a gaming tax increase, or we implement the lottery! Anyone who has travelled out to Primm to go over into California and purchase lottery tickets knows how busy the station that sells lottery tickets gets. Lines go around the building, sometimes two to three times. This is just one location! There are statistics that show how successful state lotteries can be in earmarking money for needed programs and departments, such as education. The casinos know that this is a legitimate threat, and will do anything to keep this from happening. That being the case, it is time to hold our elected officials responsible and make our opinions known! Remember, this is OUR government. We don't answer to them, they answer to US! Stand up for our state and call your representatives to send a clear message: no elected official will get support from their constituancy if they are not willing to make this ultimatum a reality! One voice CAN make a difference! It's time for the citizens of Nevada to stop complaining and start taking our government back!

Medicare Part D - Part Cruel Joke!

Thus begins the rant of the day: Though I have been away from my writing lately, I want to bring a very glaring issue to my readers as soon as possible. This issue is regarding Medicare Part D, extra assistance for low-income individuals, and the ineptitude of the government to properly oversee this plan. My girlfriend's mother is on Medicare Part D and has had the special assistance offered by Social Security to help low-income citizens with the monthly cost of the plan. She has been on the same plan with the same income level since the inception of the Part D plan offered by CMS (The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services). To give a bit of background on how the additional assistance works, it is something that is applied for through Social Security and provides assistance to those who cannot afford the monthly payments that are required to be on the Part D Prescription Plan. Not to bore you with the details, those who have income and assets that total less than $13,000 qualify for the extra help. My girlfriend's mother qualified originally, and continues to qualify. This year, in the infinite stupidity of CMS and Social Security, letters were sent out to several hundred thousand people who qualified in the past to contact Social Security to "re-verify" their status to receive the extra assistance. For those of you who have not worked in the industry (I used to administer a Part D plan for a company based here in Las Vegas) this is CMS and Social Security code for "we screwed up and lost the information for several of our qualifying members and we need to get your information again". The issue that I have with this is that the letters sent to members are VERY confusing, mis-leading and generally contradictory. Many senior citizens who receive these letters were unaware of what they meant, and according to a direct quote from a Social Security representative that we spoke to today: "We have only received about 10% response to the letters". This means that hundreds of thousands of low-income seniors are starting to receive coupon books from their Part D plans telling them they have to pay full price for the plan, or they will be dropped from the plan! The fact that these low-income seniors could potentially lose their coverage because of yet ANOTHER mistake made by CMS and Social Security is no surprise, but is extremely maddening. This plan has been poorly managed and riddled with red-tape, confusing and undecipherable correspondence and general mis-direction since the beginning. A used car salesman would baulk at the deception that this program has continually spewed forth! To make matters worse, my girlfriend, with my assistance as I have good knowledge of how the game works, contacted the Social Security number that was listed on the letter, and received...wait for it...the runaround! Another item that lacks surprise when dealing with the government. When she spoke to the person at Social Security, she was told that everything was fine in their system back in February when the letter was first received. Of course, she still received a letter just this past week from the provider of the plan and a coupon book for full price of copayments every month. Curious. She called the same office again and was now told that she has qualified every year, but this year her qualification was strangely not in the system; again code for "we lost her data". She was then told BY SOCIAL SECURITY that she needed to contact Medicare, as they are the ones who determine eligibility for the extra assistance. This is ABSOLUTELY false; consider the fact that the letter saying that she needed to re-verify status CAME from Social Security! She then contacted Medicare and after a 20 minute wait was told that it was in fact Social Security that handles this. Correct answer, but a waste of 20 minutes. She finally decided to take more time out of her day and take her mother down to the local Social Security office and get this settled once and for all. This is where she was told about the letters going out to so many others, and that she now has to RESUBMIT proof of qualification for extra assistance! A process that can take 8-10 weeks! Are you KIDDING ME? My girlfriend's mother is extremely fortunate to have someone who can take the time and has the resources to not only pay for the plan while the issue is resolved, but who actually can make time to get this issue cleared up in the first place! So many of our seniors do not have this luxury, and don't have the means or mode to either sit on the phone with several departments or go to their local Social Security office to get this cleared up. Yes, this is another in the LONG list of governmental agencies managed by crooks, devils and general swindlers. The American public HAS to stop allowing the government to operate in a way that any private business would be bankrupt in a matter of days! Hold your local, state and federal representatives responsible for their actions and actually take control of OUR government back from the cheating, corrupt and unmoral "leadership" before it is too late! Pass this information along to anyone you know who may be on Medicare Part D and low-income. Contact your representation to lodge complaints against the inadequate operation of Medicare and get something DONE about this and other abuses!