FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Thursday, January 31, 2008
CONTACT: Debbie Curtis (202) 225-5065

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, CMS released a press report highlighting the successes of the Medicare Part D, private prescription drug program. Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, made the following remarks in response to the CMS release.

“According to President Bush’s own actuaries at the Department of Health and Human Services, growth in prescription drug costs has declined in the US overall, not just in Part D. It is misleading for HHS Secretary Leavitt to assign credit for those lowered costs to Medicare Part D.

“Millions of beneficiaries that are eligible for the low-income subsidy have still not enrolled in Part D. Researchers have found that up to one-quarter of beneficiaries who fall into the so-called donut hole stop taking medicine for their chronic conditions because they cannot afford the cost of the medications. Again, lower costs don’t prove the program is working if beneficiaries are not getting the medications that they need.

“The government now pays more for drugs for dual-eligible individuals (whose coverage switched from Medicaid to the private Part D plans) than was paid previously for these same beneficiaries under Medicaid. According to HHS’s own actuaries, private Part D plans pay more for the same drugs than states pay under Medicaid.

“If the government negotiated with drug companies instead of overpaying private plans by billions of dollars, more senior citizens and people with disabilities would get the medications they need.”