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| Good News |
February 27, 2006 |
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Dear Friends,
We got some very good news on the Medicare Prescription Drug program last Friday evening. We have been working very hard with the Social Security Administration and Medicare to help seniors make choices that work for them. That effort seems to be paying off.
According to the most recent data, here in the first district of New Mexico 66% of seniors who are eligible for coverage under the new plan have already signed up. That doesn`t count people who are covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program and Veterans who have Tricare for life. When we add in a conservative estimate of how many of those folks live in the Albuquerque area, over 75% of those eligible for the program are already signed up or covered by a plan equal to or better than Medicare.
That`s pretty remarkable given that this is a voluntary program and nobody has to sign up if they don`t want to.
While I was critical of the roll-out in the early weeks -- help lines that were over loaded, data exchanges that were not working well etc. -- there are also signs that these things are getting fixed. And we will keep after the problems until everything is smooth as silk. Calls to the help lines are down, waiting times for customer service have dropped dramatically, problems at pharmacies are getting fixed, and people are getting the prescriptions they need at lower cost.
When Medicare was set up in 1965 they decided to give people choices. Seniors could continue to go to the doctor they wanted to go to -- not a government doctor or government hospital. The same is true for Part D of Medicare. Seniors get to choose how and where they will get their medicine.
Insurance choices take some time to figure out. It`s not a one-size-fits-all deal. So, it can be confusing. That`s why we are spending so much time to help seniors figure out what will work for them.
When I visited the Albuquerque Meadows last week to talk about Medicare, we talked about car insurance. There were people in the audience who had Gieco, and State Farm and Progressive. I have USAA. Each had different deductibles and premiums. They each chose their car insurance for a reason -- good rates, a friend who is an agent, good service, coverage wherever you move to.
The same is true with the Prescription Drug plan. People are looking for plans that work for them personally and give them what they want.
And the competition among plans is keeping prices down. When we put the plan in place, the estimate was that the average premium would be $37 a month. Because of competition and the power of bulk buying, the premium is about $25 a month on average. Those cost savings are good for seniors and for taxpayers.
Original estimates were that between 80% and 90% of seniors would take advantage of this voluntary plan. Just half way through the initial enrollment period, three quarters of seniors in our community are already signed up. We will keep working to make sure that everyone who wants to join, can do so.
Wish you were here,
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