The people running Medicare, and the GOP -- who wants to do away with both Medicare and the Obama Health Plan -- all seem to be working together to keep the numbers of senior voters down to a minimum. Their philosophy: keep people in pain and they won't want to go to the polls. With an AARP-claimed membership roll of 50 million voters, that one block can swing an entire election.

::::::::

I wonder how Medicare can deny me the legally-prescribed medication which was covered with co-pay by every one of the healthcare programs I had while throughout my career. Each company I worked for had a different package -- Aetna, Empire Blue Cross, and Horizon Blue Cross -- and they all required nothing more than a letter of "prior authorization" from my doctor, as the medication was a higher class of pain relief medicine used for pain in my four damaged lumbar disks and my kidney disease. Every other plan, upon receipt of a letter from my doctors, allowed the prescription to be filled.

Medicare will not, under any circumstances, approve -- even with a letter of support from my Congressman -- coverage of even one of the medications I used. One, if paid out-of-pocket for the generic rather than with co-pay, costs nearly $600 a box, when the co-pay through private healthcare was $10 for four boxes a month.

I have exhausted all avenues and seem to not be able to get help from even AARP on how to get this reviewed by an authority higher than Medicare. Apparently, the only way I can get these medications is if I were to have cancer! Thank God I do not have cancer, but these folks need to understand other problems can produce equally excruciating pain. The irony is that this drug was developed to help veterinarians with dog and cat pain. That means my cats could get this medicine, but I cannot! In a world increasingly turning upside down, it's a GOP wet dream to deny seniors medications that would help them live a life with a certain level of dignity and quality. This way, we remain disabled and in pain and never get to the polls to vote them out.

I assure you all that through emails to friends and my articles on certain websites which publish private "Op Ed" pieces, I am getting the word out to everyone I can about the Republicans, the Tea Party, and the right-wing fanatics.

There are more than 50 million members of AARP, according to their TV commercials. If of its members were to arrive at the polls, their votes alone would unseat the GOP with all of their big lies, fear, uncertainty, dread, and misinformation from public office. This would remove one of the largest barriers to making Medicare and healthcare in the U.S. affordable and equal.

Let them feel the sting from messing with the seniors of this fair country! Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on us. We -- many of us -- are now aging boomers, and we remember the words of the Who, "We won't get fooled again!" Rise up, AARP members and all seniors, and assert your dignity and your desire to live a life free of pain and of misinformation, and vote for a man who has had the guts to stand up to the right wing and still get his campaign promises done no matter how much they try to block his efforts! Healthcare for ALL is one of his promises.

A decent man is hard to find. Let us keep ours for another four years, and let us fix Medicare so that we can live without pain and suffering in our so-called twilight years.

My back kills me daily, but I still want to get out and play drums with friends. Help me and my other "older rockers" play rock and roll, relieve our tensions, and just have fun.

Please, folks, never forget fun!

Authors Website: www.hashhoward.com

Authors Bio:
I am a systems analyst ... a computer professional; also I have been an actor and musician. I still enjoy jamming with friends, as I get to play drums, a form of aerobics.

I have a great love for our country. When I see anyone lying to "We The People," it prompts me to write an opinion piece. I hope to be able to get people thinking.

All I ask is that people use the Internet, to dig for the Truth.