Medicare Part D Deadline

MEDICARE PART D DEADLINE -- (Extensions of Remarks - April 27, 2006)

* Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge Congress and the Bush Administration to extend the May 15th deadline for enrollment in Medicare Part D.

* The Bush Administration has spent millions of taxpayer dollars to promote this complicated plan. However, 6 months after enrollment began, only slightly over half of Medicare recipients, who did not previously have coverage, have enrolled in Part D. These low numbers are due in large part to the complexity of the system, the number of unfamiliar plans entering the market and the misinformation initially presented by CMS.

* This was made very clear to me after many meetings with seniors and persons with disabilities in my district that this is unnecessarily complicated and that CMS was unprepared to deal with its implementation from the outset. As Members of Congress, we have all heard from constituents--both Medicare recipients and providers--about the difficulties in enrollment and in the accuracy of the payment system. I even heard from one constituent who was so frustrated by the system that, against our advice, he has disenrolled completely and plans to rely on emergency room care for his health coverage. That is unacceptable.

* Coverage decisions are made more difficult by the fact that a beneficiary may only change plans once a year, whereas a plan may change its coverage options on a whim. Regardless of these complexities, those who do not enroll by May 15th will be charged a 7 percent minimum penalty for the rest of their lives. Medicare beneficiaries should not be charged for this Administration's problems. We need to extend the deadline for enrollment and in the meantime, go back to the drawing board and write a Medicare prescription drug plan that makes sense.

* The Medicare Part D plan does not provide the comprehensive coverage that is needed for our seniors and persons with disabilities. This plan appears to be focused on providing profits for HMOs and pharmaceutical companies, not on improving health care and quality of life for Medicare recipients. Those priorities are made clear with the provision banning the Secretary of Health and Human Services from negotiating for best price on prescription drugs.

* Recent studies show that by negotiating for best price we could save enough money to provide coverage for all recipients without a premium. A comprehensive Medicare drug benefit focused on seniors would come directly from Medicare, would allow negotiation, and would allow for re-importation of prescription drugs when safety standards are met.

* We can do better, and we must do better. I urge my colleagues to support a deadline extension and comprehensive prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

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