Republican leaders meet with President to discuss Part D issues
Senate Republicans met with senior Bush administration officials in private yesterday afternoon to discuss their concerns with the Medicare prescription-drug program and to prepare for the escalated Democratic attacks on the program expected next week during the recess.
Democratic leaders and strategists last week had urged lawmakers to launch a barrage of criticisms against the drug program.
About 30 Republican lawmakers sat down with Mike Leavitt, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Mark McClellan, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Lawmakers, according to a senator in attendance, asked the officials about two major criticisms of the drug plan, which was the legislative centerpiece of President Bush’s first term: that the drug plan offers too many programs and as a result is too confusing for seniors, and that it has a hole in a coverage. Drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100 a year are generally not covered by the program.
Senior senators such as Pete Domenici (N.M.) and Larry Craig (Idaho) said the program is fundamentally sound and will help many senior citizens.
Administration officials gave the lawmakers promising statistics about the program: 24 million of the 42 million eligible participants have signed up, 250,000 seniors sign up each week and the monthly individual premium cost has dropped from $37 to $25 per month, according to a lawmaker who took notes during the meeting.
However, Democrats note that many of the seniors who have “signed up” were automatically enrolled or have long been part of an employer-sponsored program.