Critics urge extension of Medicare drug deadline

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

By DAVID AMMONS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

OLYMPIA -- State critics of the government's new prescription drug benefit urged Congress yesterday to extend Monday's enrollment deadline and suggested overhauling the program.

Washington Citizen Action, the state Labor Council and others calling themselves the Campaign to Fix the Part D Disaster held a joint news conference to pressure the state's three Republican congressmen to join Democrats in trying to force a congressional vote this week.

The critics said a new analysis by Families USA, a health care advocacy group backed by labor, shows problems with the new Medicare Part D program. Enrollment has been sluggish because the program is costly and confusing, critics said, and many poor recipients are worse off because they're now making co-payments and having to deal with private vendors.

Monday is the deadline for enrolling without a penalty. The critics, supported by Gov. Christine Gregoire and the state's Democratic congressional delegation, want to extend the deadline until the first of the year and to erase the penalties.

The critics said Medicare should be allowed to compete with private plans and could help drive down drug costs. They urged Congress to end the so-called "doughnut hole" where there is no subsidy between $2,250 and $5,100 in annual drug costs.

About four out of five of Washington's low-income seniors are not getting the benefits they were promised, said Steven Kofahl, local president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents the Pacific Northwest workers who administer the program.

In Washington, about 106,000 "dual eligible" recipients -- low-income Medicare beneficiaries who also qualify for Medicaid -- had drug coverage under Medicaid before Part D began. The state has agreed to pick up co-payments this year, and the Legislature appropriated $18 million for the plan.

But two dual-eligible recipients, both board members of Washington Citizen Action, said they are having trouble getting the prescriptions they need and that pharmacies still are charging copays that total more than $80 a month. Previously, they didn't pay co-payments.

Michael Marchand, spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Seattle, acknowledged some rough spots in starting the massive new entitlement program, but said two-thirds of the eligible 829,000 beneficiaries in Washington were enrolled as of April 18.

"The issues are being resolved one by one and we will resolve more," he said.

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