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Dems Plan To Change Part D Medicare Drug Program
Certainly, the program which started January 1 got off to a rocky start as seniors were confronted with as many as 47 possible plans by private insurance companies which run the program, not the federal government. In addition to the major confusion facing seniors who must make initial choices, the insurance companies and federal agencies botched enrollments and seniors trying to use the program for the first time were turned away without medication. New York state, like many other states, was forced to intercede on behalf of the perplexed seniors to make sure they received their life-sustaining medications. The president defended the plan in a talk in upstate New York where he acknowledged that the large number of plans offered initially created some confusion; but noted that when people took time to study the options they realized the plan could be helpful. However, local Democrats in Congress feel, along with the rest of their party, that changes must be made and that the plan is more geared to generating profits for insurance companies than serving seniors. Congressmember Carolyn Maloney stated at a recent seniors' forum on the program, "Seniors were hoping for a simple plan that would cover drug costs. Unfortunately, the bill that passed isn't the bill we hoped for. That's why many are saying that the 'D' in Medicare Part D stands for 'disaster.'" Her colleagues, Congressmember Joseph Crowley, Anthony Weiner, Gary Ackerman and Gary Meeks have made similar criticisms and are backing several bills which they hope, will improve the program, if passed. These include legislation to: +Extend the enrollment deadline to December 31 to give seniors more time to make an informed choice without penalty. (The next enrollment deadline is May 15, and anyone not signed up by May 1 faces a 1 percent penalty being added to their monthly premium for every month past the deadline, Maloney warned.) +Allow the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices with drug companies. +Ensure that no senior or disabled person would leave a pharmacy without their prescription drugs. +Prohibit private drug plans from changing the list of drugs they cover within a year. +Allow Medicare beneficiaries to obtain their drugs entirely from Medicare instead of through a private insurance company. +Permit the reimportation of drugs from abroad. +Establish a national drug plan with a standard premium available to all seniors in all states. According to the Bush Administration, 26 million seniors are covered nationally and the enrollment program is on track to achieve the administration's goal of signing up 28 million to 30 million in the plan's first year. There are about 41 million seniors on Medicare. In New York State, the Kaiser Family Foundation has reported that 413,000 seniors had signed up by February 1 and another 510,000 on both Medicare and Medicaid were automatically enrolled. However, another 1.2 million still have no coverage. PHARMACISTS COMPLAINING TOO: Pharmacists for Bush, a political fund-raising group in Texas, has complained to the Bush Administration that its members have been losing money under the new Part D program since it started in January. According to a story in the March 13 issue of the New York Times, they met with Karl Rove, the president's senior advisor, to complain that many independent pharmacies might have to go out of business because they have not been paid adequately or promptly by the private insurance companies that are running the program.
Other retail pharmacists across the country are also complaining that the drug plans might force them out of business. Besides being short-changed under the new Part D program, the druggists complained that the Bush Administration Medicaid cutbacks are depriving them of income. |
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