WASHINGTON – Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) today urged Congress to extend the May 15 deadline for seniors to enroll in the Medicare prescription drug program without incurring a penalty.  Leading House and Senate Democrats held an event with seniors on Capitol Hill today to highlight the frustrations many seniors are having navigating the confusing drug program that, in the end, may not save them money on their drug costs.  Seniors who do not enroll in a Medicare drug plan by Monday but sign up afterwards would have to pay a higher lifelong premium of 7 percent.

“With the enrollment period for the Medicare prescription drug plan set to expire next Monday, millions of seniors run the risk of paying the price for the confusing and complicated program,” Kildee said.  “I urge Congress to extend the deadline and avoid punishing seniors for the misfortune of having to try to beat the clock navigate a program created by and for the drug and insurance companies.”

With five days left before the May 15 deadline, seniors polled consistently cite the program's complexity as a top concern. Most people have more than 40 plans to select from, and savings vary depending on the medicines needed, income levels and the plan chosen.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a study this week stating that an estimate 10 million Medicare beneficiaries who are eligible for the prescription drug program this year will instead enroll over the next three years.  It also estimated that close to 1 million of those beneficiaries would enroll if the deadline were simply extended to the end of 2006.

Congressman Kildee has cosponsored legislation, H.R. 3861, which would extend the deadline until the end of 2006 and has signed a discharge petition to force the Congress into considering that bill on the floor.

The 2003 Republican drug law fails to target the real problem of rising drug costs and jeopardizes current drug coverage for many seniors, creating a coverage gap that will leave half of seniors without drug coverage for part of the year by forcing them to pay 100% of all drug costs from $2250 up to $5100.  It also specifically prohibits the federal government from competitive bidding with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries.  That provision, highly sought after by the pharmaceutical lobbies that helped write the bill, makes it more difficult for seniors to buy cheaper U.S.-made drugs reimported from industrialized nations and will cost taxpayers billions.

Furthermore, the bill gives $12 billion in subsidies to HMOs and private insurance plans to encourage them to offer drug benefit plans, which is the first step in converting all Medicare to private insurance.  This will allow them to “cherry-pick” healthier and wealthier seniors from Medicare, while leaving the more needy in an under funded Medicare program.