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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued “The Bush Administration
Misstatement of the Day” on the privately-run drug cards for Medicare beneficiaries.
The
New York Times reported today that Medicare beneficiaries are confused
about the privately-run drug cards and what seniors are finding is a program
that offers “73 competing drug discount cards, each providing different
savings on different medications, and all subject to change.”
The
Bush Administration defended the “complexity” of the plan. Mark McClellan
of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services said, “We're seeing more
plans offering better benefits,” adding that seniors could save 15% or
more using the cards.
However,
seniors are not experiencing “better benefits.” According to the
article:
Sydney
Bild, 81, a retired doctor in Chicago, compared the discount cards with
the prices he paid ordering his drugs by mail from Canada. Dr. Bild pays
$4,000 to $5,000 a year for five medications. When he checked the government
Web site, he said the best plans were about 50 percent to 60 percent higher
than what he was paying.
But
Dr. Bild said his main objection to the new plans was that companies could
change prices on drugs, or change the drugs covered. Medicare requires
plans to cover only one drug in each of 209 common categories. Consumers
can change cards only once a year. Committing to a card is “like love -
it's a sometime thing,” Dr. Bild said. “What if I chose one? They could
drop my drugs two weeks later.”
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