Dems will propose fix for Medicare Part D problems
Prominent Democrats, seizing on reports of delay and confusion about President Bush’s Medicare drug plan, sought to appeal to senior citizens Wednesday with what they say is an easier way to administer prescription drug insurance.The Democratic proposals would bar insurance companies from eliminating drugs from patients’ coverage once they had selected a specific plan and from raising the cost of the drugs in midyear. It would also set up a uniform process to tell beneficiaries when their drugs wouldn’t be covered and it would mandate that Medicare guarantee payment for up to 60 days when the pharmacist can’t verify whether a patient is enrolled in a plan.”This has become a costly, complicated mess that wastes tens of billions of dollars in handouts to pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said at a news conference.Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) added, “The problem is that senior citizens are finding that they’re not getting the drugs they need.”The Democrats said they plan to travel the country to promote their tweaks to the nascent drug program. Medicare Part D, the name of the program passed in 2003, gave seniors federal prescription entitlements for the first time, but requires them to pick from among dozens of competing plans, each of which covers different drugs, for the best deals.The Democrats pinned blame for the rough start on the GOP’s “culture of corruption”–a political message they’ve repeated since the indictments of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).Democrats hope the chaotic Medicare rollout, along with Bush’s unsuccessful Social Security reform last year and his proposed Medicare funding cuts for 2007, will persuade voters in the coming midterm elections that the GOP can’t be trusted to protect key benefits for the elderly.”I’ve been in the Congress a long time, and never have I seen a finer mess made by a more self-seeking group of people,” said Dingell, 79, whose tenure in Congress this week became the second-longest ever. Dingell passed former Rep. Carl Vinson (D-Ga.), who served 50 years, 2 months and 14 days, and trails only former Rep. Jamie Whitten (D-Miss.), with 53 years, 2 months and 13 days.Durbin said Democrats are looking for a Senate bill to which they can attach their proposals.”We think that we can come together, even on a bipartisan basis, to make this program work for the people across this country,” Durbin said.Added Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.): “This isn’t a political issue. We’re talking about whether people get medicine that will save their life.”But bipartisanship in Washington is in short supply. Supporters of the present law say it discourages wasteful spending through competition among plans.