Medicare D Glitches Worry Ellsworth

Medicare D glitches worry Ellsworth

Second in a two-part series

By MARA LEE
Evansville Courier & Press Washington bureau (202) 408-2705 or leem@shns.com

The addition of a prescription drug benefit in Medicare is certain to be an issue in this year's midterm electioneering.

Nationwide, Democrats are trying to make political hay out of poor implementation of the drug benefit. They say the May 15 deadline to sign up is unfair, because the program is overly complicated. (In Indiana, there are 43 plans to choose from.) The Republicans who control Congress say the glitches are being worked out, and the deadline stays.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ellsworth, who is running for Congress in Indiana's 8th District, thinks that's the wrong decision.

He said, "I hear panic in people's voices" when they talk about how hard it is to choose. He talked to a woman last week who tried to call an insurance company to get an explanation on part of the benefit she didn't understand. He said the customer service rep said, "Well, we're not allowed to discuss that." "So if the company doesn't know and can't explain it, that makes people leery."

Unlike many critics of the benefit, however, Ellsworth said having the private insurance companies involved can save seniors money through competition. And he said, "You can't blame them for looking for a profit. But there has to be a referee. I think Congress could've been a referee in this."

When Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., was asked for his thoughts on the benefit's rollout, his spokesman, Matthew Faraci, sent this reply:

"As a massive new government program, it is not surprising that getting it up and running properly may take some time. Our caseworkers continue to work with constituents who need our assistance with issues related to Medicare Part D."

Hostettler voted against creating the drug benefit. He felt it was unaffordable, especially in light of "an already overextended federal budget," his spokesman said.

Also, he believed the projection that it would cost $400 billion over 10 years, as the administration claimed, was false.

He was right. In fact, a Medicare official said he was threatened with losing his job if he told Congress his estimate that it would cost $500 billion to $600 billion over 10 years. In February, Medicare admitted that even the post-passage estimates of more than $500 billion were too low, because they were including 2004 and 2005, before the program began. When you measure from the beginning of the program in 2006, and take into account the tidal wave of baby boomers who turn 65 over the next nine years, the cost is expected to be $1.2 trillion.

The government is not collecting enough revenue to cover the cost, so it adds to the debt.

Ellsworth said the misinformation was outrageous. "You don't expect to get bogus numbers and then vote on it," he said. He said even though seniors like to save on their medicine, they're also "sick and tired of the debt. I don't think anybody wants to strap their kids or grandkids with debt."

http://www.ellsworthforcongress.com/articles_details.asp?id=101