Pressure Mounts to Extend Deadline for Drug Benefit (WH & RePugs

Oppose the extension



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare2dec02,0,7794493.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Pressure Mounts to Extend Deadline for Drug Benefit
As older citizens puzzle over options in the plan, lawmakers demand more time for seniors to join Bush's program for Medicare prescriptions.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Times Staff Writer

December 2, 2005

WASHINGTON — Although the sign-up period for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit is barely two weeks old, pressure is mounting in Congress to extend it so that senior citizens can have more time to understand a program many find dauntingly complex.

The registration period is scheduled to end May 15. But lawmakers who have been in their home districts during the Thanksgiving holiday have reported being besieged by elderly constituents.

Despite being attracted to the plan's promise of saving them money, many seniors are struggling to sort through the options — and through sometimes incomplete or inaccurate information on costs and benefits.

"My guess is when comes back from Thanksgiving recess, they'll be jumping up and down to do something, because they're hearing from a lot of people who are getting heartburn trying to figure this out," Rep. Pete Stark (D-Fremont) said Thursday. He wants to extend the deadline through the end of 2006.......

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I know of one case where it's already been done. A widow of a coal miner was advised she has to sign up for the Medicare 'benefit', and that her current prescription drug plan would be a secondary provider. I don't know of any case where a secondary provider pays anything toward paying for prescriptions.

Anyway, I think we're going to see a lot of this soon. Lack of people signing up for the Medicare 'benefit' helps reveal it as a scam to benefit pharmacudicals, insurance providers, and corporations in general, and not consumers. CEOs don't want their lapdogs to look bad, so they will dump retirees off their medical plans to force them to sign up for Republicans' 'benefit'.

Make it a lot less confusing, make it easier to switch plans if your needs change, offer a free option for those who do not need a lot of drugs at this point (our county offers a decent drug discount plan), etc. Basically make the Medicare Rx truly benefit the disabled and seniors that it's supposed to and not as heavily the big pharm & insurance companies who designed this hodge podge confusing maze.