Date: 2006-05-10
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. today I rise to talk about a serious issue facing Americas seniors. an issue that was just debated prior on the floor. the upcoming deadline for enrolling in the new Medicare prescription drug program. I. like many of my colleagues. have held forums around our congressional districts to try and encourage the senior citizens to enroll in- the program and to try and help explain it with the help of advisers from Medicare. from the Kaiser health care organization in my district. from the county health care offices and many others to explain the process of enrolling. the benefits. and what the seniors need to get together to do that. But the problem is that time is going to run out on many of these seniors. There is just 5 days left to enroll in the program or face the possibility of a lifetime penalty. Most seniors do not fully understand the nature of that penalty. that that penalty will be assessed on the value of the average premium paid. and it will be assessed for the rest of the time that the senior is enrolled in the program. It is a serious and a harsh penalty for those who may not be able to sign up. because they simply failed to understand the program and need additional time. We have been pressing the Congress and the President and the Republicans in this House to extend the enrollment deadline and to waive the penalty for the first year to give people enough time to understand the confusing and complicated program. Instead the Republicans have brought up this resolution that was just passed here that encourages the beneficiaries not yet enrolled to enroll in the drug plan and to review carefully all of the options available to them. Many have been trying to do that and have not been able to do it successfully to completion. I do not believe that they should be punished for that. We are talking about individuals who in many cases have other disabilities. other problems. health care problems. and it is not easy to wade through these options that confuse many of them. This resolution does not do anything to help those individuals avoid the lifetime penalties. It does not give the. Federal Government the power to negotiate in bulk for the drug companies and for lower prescription prices. Instead of passing this resolution. I would have hoped that the Republicans would have brought forth a provision to provide real help to the beneficiaries by giving them more time to review carefully all of the options that are available and delaying the deadline until May 31. Why. you ask. is this necessary? On April 26. USA Today reported less than 3 weeks remain for most Medicare beneficiaries to sign up for the prescription drug coverage without penalties. but nearly half the Nations seniors do not know it. The fact is that many beneficiaries are still unaware of the deadlines and the penalties. highlighting the fact that more time is needed. But even those who know about the deadlines and penalties are having a hard time with this confusing law. A new GAO report found that many beneficiaries are receiving inadequate. incorrect information fromthe Medicare hotline that many of us have -been encouraging them to call to help them enroll. It has been inadequate help to them and seniors should not be punished for that reason. The Wall Street Journal reported just a coupleof -days ago that the Federal investigators from the GAO posing as senior citizens found that the Medicare operators routinely failed to give callers accurate and complete information about the governments new drug benefit. Investigators said that about onethird of their calls resulted in faulty responses or no response at all because of disconnected calls. This is not an atmosphere which should lead to the punishment of senior citizens who are making a goodfaith effort to reach Medicare. to reach for the enrollment. to understand the program and make the decision for themselves or a member of their families on a timely basis. Based upon a new analysis. there are probably about . nine million beneficiaries with little or no drug coverage who still have failed to sign up. According to the nonpartisan CBO. delaying the deadline to December 31 would save more than 7 million beneficiaries from a lifetime of higher monthly premiums. If the Republicans were truly interested in fulfilling the program that they designed. then they ought to extend the deadline so that senior citizens that we represent can have an opportunity to enroll and put off that penalty. So I would hopethere is still time between now and the 15th. I would hope that now that they have passed this resolution. we wouldbring out legislation to provide an extension of time for seniors who are in fact acting in good faith. The suggestion has not been made that seniors are trying to dodge the obligation. We know why there is a penalty. Eventually you want them all to sign up so people do not selectively enroll and cherrypick and make the program more complex. But the indication is not that seniors are refusing or trying to dodge the program. The indication is that many are still reaching out in good faith to sign up for the program and to understand the program. but they just have not been successfully able to do that. It seems to me that is not what a government should be doing is punishing people going through the process in good faith. but simply have not been able to negotiate it.