Snowe Calls on Bush Administration to Meet Federal Obligations Under Drug Benefit

SNOWE CALLS ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO MEET FEDERAL OBLIGATIONS UNDER DRUG BENEFIT

Senator Has Authored Legislation to Extend Signup Deadline and Reimburse States

In response to Governor John Baldacci's (D-ME) letter to President Bush highlighting his concerns about continuing problems with enrolling low-income seniors in Maine in the Medicare prescription drug benefit, U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) today called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that Maine is reimbursed for costs it had incurred that should be covered under the new benefit. Maine continues to provide beneficiaries with their essential medicines due to enrollment delays and other problems that CMS has not yet been able to address.

"I call on CMS to exercise its oversight responsibility and make sure that Medicare and the individual drug plans live up to their responsibilities so that no one is forced to go without their lifesaving prescription drugs," said Snowe. "The federal government must reimburse Maine for the costs it has borne which should have been covered under Medicare. Secretary Leavitt assured me personally that Maine and other states will be reimbursed, and this is a promise that must be fulfilled. If CMS continues to delay, I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to pursue a legislative remedy."

Snowe has introduced the Medicare State Reimbursement Act, which would require the federal government to reimburse States with interest. It also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to recover any overpayments made by states to private prescription drug plans and return that money to the Medicare Trust Fund.

When the new drug benefit went into effect on January 1st, many low-income seniors were unable to get their prescription drugs or were charged huge co-payments due to errors made by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Similar errors persist, causing many seniors to be unable to enroll and making them susceptible to a late enrollment penalty as of May 15.

"Many seniors, through no fault of their own, face a late enrollment penalty even though they or the state of Maine attempted to enroll them months ago," said Snowe. "This new problem further underscores the pressing need to extend the enrollment deadline through 2006. There is simply too much confusion and too many problems to condemn millions of seniors to paying a late enrollment fee."

In December, Senators Snowe and Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced a bipartisan plan to fix other problems with the implementation of the new Medicare drug benefit. This bill would give seniors more time to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, provide more flexibility for beneficiaries to change plans, and add crucial protections for those enrolled in a plan.

http://snowe.senate.gov/news.htm