Medicare Part D is the FEMA of Health Care

[kerrygoddess]

Medicare Part D is the FEMA of Health Care
March 25th, 2006 @ 6:10 pm

In today’s Democratic Radio Address, Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas said “the government needs to think long and hard about meaningful Medicare reform.” Berry, who is also a pharmacist said “Seniors need another six months to sign up for the Medicare prescription drug benefit.”

Berry said people eligible for the prescription benefit are confused by the various offerings, and some are even paying more for medicine now than they were before they joined the program.

“We need to extend the sign-up period by six months to give seniors more time to make sense of this benefit, and we need to eliminate the Bush administration’s prescription drug tax,” Berry said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address.

May 15 is the deadline for enrolling in the new Medicare drug benefit plan, which was enacted by Congress in 2003. People who sign up later probably will have to pay higher premiums.

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2423

[gizmo1979]

1. 50% of seniors haven't signed up yet.

Seniors are so confused they are ending up scammed by low lifes taking advantage of the confusion.It's another example of corp.running the U.S.

[OzarkDem]

2. Absolutely, its disaster.

People are going without medicines already. In addition, prices have risen on prescription drugs and pharma companies have dropped eligibility levels for non-elderly patients.

An example: the drug Arimidex, which prevents the return of breast cancer, recently rose to over $400 per month. But at the same time, the eligibility for patient assistance programs by that manufacturer dropped to income level of $19,000 per yr. or lower. So how does a woman earning $25,000 per year pay $400 a month for just one drug?

Same situation for drugs like Herceptin and Avastin, which cost $95,000 to $100,000 for 1 yr course of therapy.

Cancer patients can no longer afford treatment.

On edit: I'm also hearing of seniors who have coverage under employer paid pension/retirement health care plans who are now dumping prescription coverage. Recall, they were all given big fat tax rebates if they voluntarily agreed not to dump retiree's prescription plans. Looks like they won both ways.