MEDICINE (CONT)

Healthcare advocates in California praised Schwarzenegger for stepping in to provide assistance, but questioned why it took nearly two weeks for the governor to act.

"We knew this train wreck was going to happen," said Angela Gilliard, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Sacramento. "We've been saying there was no way when they flipped the switch on Jan. 1, people wouldn't be harmed. No way. We're glad the state acted now."

Dr. Jack Lewin, chief executive of the California Medical Assn., said Schwarzenegger had "saved thousands of lives."
"This may be the single most important healthcare action he has taken as governor for the nearly 1 million of the neediest patients in California," Lewin said.

With Congress still away on its holiday recess, reaction in Washington to the program's problems has been muted.
But Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt on Friday to express disappointment with the transition for low-income seniors.

"Switching drug benefits from 50 state-based Medicaid programs to dozens of Medicare prescription drug plans would be complicated under any circumstance," wrote Baucus, who voted in favor of creating the benefit in 2003.

"But this task is particularly challenging since these individuals are among the sickest and most vulnerable of all Medicare beneficiaries. Yet despite the awareness of potential problems, [Medicare] has failed to adequately protect these beneficiaries."

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