Recent GAO Report Documents Failure of Administration to Give Seniors Accurate Information about Part D

BALTIMORE – Citing a recent GAO report critical of the Bush Administration’s efforts to provide seniors with accurate information about the new Medicare Part D program, U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today denounced the program as a bureaucratic snafu that has confused millions of seniors, making it very difficult for them to sign up for the program by the May 15 deadline.

At a press conference at the Sandtown-Winchester Senior Center, Rep. Cardin joined with U.S. Reps. Elijah Cummings and C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger in urging Congress to extend the May 15 deadline for enrolling in the new prescription drug program until Dec. 31 without penalty.  He also has co-sponsored the Medicare Informed Choice Act, HR 3861, which would extend the open enrollment deadline through the end of the year. 

The current law imposes a 1% penalty for every month past the May 15 deadline that a Medicare beneficiary fails to enroll in the Medicare Part D program.  After May 15, seniors cannot enroll in the Part D program until Nov. 15, 2006 for coverage that will become effective Jan. 1, 2007.  At that time, they will be subject to a 7% penalty for as long as they remain in the program.

Rep. Cardin charged, “Enrollment in the new Part D program has been marked by confusion and poor planning.”  He pointed to the recent GAO report, which “found that 60% of the time the Medicare hotline provided seniors with incomplete, inappropriate, or inaccurate information.”

According to statistics from the Center for Medicare Services and the Kaiser Family Foundation, it is estimated that approximately 200,000 Marylanders who are eligible for the Part D benefit have not enrolled.  He also noted that in Maryland there are 47 different plans for seniors to chose from, making the program unnecessarily complicated and requiring intensive counseling to help seniors understand their choices and which plan is best for them.

Rep. Cardin voted against the 2003 law creating the new Part D program and has introduced the Preserving Medicare for All Act, HR 2487, to fix many of the serious flaws in the program.  His bill would allow the federal government to negotiate lower prices, establish a guaranteed prescription drug benefit within the Medicare program, eliminate billion of dollars in excessive subsidies to insurance companies and protect retiree health care plans that currently offer a drug benefit.

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