Medicare Prescription Plan
As we near the end of the first year of the plan, it is clear that many Senior Citizens are facing huge out of pocket expenses because of the way this plan was designed.
I have always fully supported a meaningful prescription drug plan for our senior citizens but I voted against the Medicare prescription drug plan three years ago because I felt it would hurt more senior citizens than it will help. I am hearing from many people now that this is the case, even from my own staff and their families, particularly those who have fallen into the so-called "donut hole." This is because they have exceeded $2,250 in costs for the year, beyond which coverage stops until they've incurred $5,100 in drug costs.
In mid-September, a Congressional report concluded that as many as 7 million seniors on the new Part D prescription drug coverage program, in addition to close to 6 million disabled Medicare Advantage plan recipients, may lose coverage for much-needed prescription drugs. Seniors could have opted for an expensive plan to avoid the donut hole, but that would have cost them an average of $40 more a month-- a gamble most of them were not willing to take even if they could afford the extra monthly expense. Instead, they were forced to opt for the lower-priced plans and hope that they didn't hit the $2,250 ceiling before the end of the year. This is no way to provide a health care benefit for millions of our nation's elderly people on a fixed income.
The alternative plan I voted for three years ago did not contain a "donut hole." Furthermore, it would have allowed the government to negotiate with the drug companies for price discounts. That would have gone a long way toward keeping costs down in the program, which in turn would have allowed for more money in the program to go to beneficiaries. However, the version that passed did not allow the government to negotiate price discounts, so instead of Senior Citizens benefiting, the drug companies did.
I have since cosponsored a bill that would correct that problem by allowing price negotiations. I am also a cosponsor of a bill to allow reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada, with safeguards.
I wish I could be more optimistic that Congress will act before the end of the year to prevent Seniors from falling into the "donut hole." Frankly, however, this Congress's budget priorities have been quite different than mine. I voted against the enormous tax cuts in the past several years because they contributed to depleting the budget surplus we had in 2000 and giving us the current deficit. Those tax cuts went overwhelmingly to the wealthiest in our country but I felt that money should have been used to help shore up Medicare and Social Security and provide greater access and affordability of health care to our most vulnerable people.
The cost of the war in Iraq has also made our budget choices much more difficult. As you probably know, I have been pressing for us to change our policy in Iraq for some time. In addition to the loss of life and limb to our extraordinarily brave fighting men and women, we are expending over $8 billion per month in Iraq on an open-ended policy. That equates to $11 million an hour. I feel those funds would be far better spent securing our borders here at home, improving health care (including Medicare and Veterans) and education, and on the many things that impact people's daily lives in America. As things stand, however, our budget is severely strained and we are facing long-term problems down the road because of the budget choices that have been made in recent years. We should act now to change direction on our budget priorities so that down the road we are not faced with even tougher choices than we are now.
I assure you I will continue to work toward this goal.
Links For Additional Information:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4277).
The Facts about Medicare Prescription Drugs Plans 2006 Medicare Modernization Act www.medicare.gov
