Sen. Brown, Sec. Sebelius Discuss Impact Of GOP Budget On Current Medicare Enrollees; Budget Would Hurt More Than 159,000 Ohio Seniors As Soon As It Became Law

Press Release

Millions of Seniors in "Donut Hole" Would Pay over $9,300 more for Rx Drugs by 2020

Brown Releases New National and Ohio Report on Increased Cost Current Enrollees Would Face in Coming Years Under Republican Budget

Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, along with Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), revealed the immediate impact the House Republicans' budget plan would have on at least four million seniors across the country. The Republican budget would reopen the prescription drug donut hole, costing each of the four million seniors who fall into the coverage gap up to $9,300 by 2020. In total, it would cost seniors $44 billion in prescription drug costs over this time period, including $2.2 billion next year alone. It would also force at least one million seniors and people with disabilities to pay over $110 million more for their annual wellness visits in 2012.

"The Republican budget would pull the rug out from under seniors in order to finance extra tax cuts for millionaires," Brown said. "If enacted, seniors would see their prescription drug costs explode and would lose access to no-cost annual wellness visits and preventive care. It would hand an $89 million prescription drug tab to split among 159,000 Ohio seniors in the first year alone. Meanwhile, seniors would see an end to Medicare as we know it through privatization. They would be handed vouchers that wouldn't cover the cost of the health services they count on -- doubling their out-of-pocket costs in the first year alone."

Brown released a new report detailing the number of Ohio seniors that would be thrown back into the prescription drug donut hole, the additional costs seniors would pay for prescription drugs, and the number of Medicare enrollees who would pay more for their annual wellness visit under the Republican budget. The new report noted that an estimated 159,403 Ohio seniors would be impacted by the "donut hole" by 2012, meaning these seniors would pay an additional $89 million per year in prescription drug costs. That means Ohio seniors would be forced to pay an additional estimated $1.8 billion for their medications by 2010. The report also noted that 42,649 Ohio seniors would be forced to pay for annual wellness visits under the Republican plan, at a cost of nearly $4.5 million annually.

"There's a right way to preserve Medicare, and that's by improving it," said Secretary Sebelius. "President Obama has begun to do just that. The Republican plan would end Medicare as we know it and impose significant costs on today's seniors and tomorrow's seniors. That is clearly the wrong way."

The Republican budget would also require that seniors pay deductibles, co-insurance, and copayments for many preventive services currently covered by Medicare, including mammograms; colorectal, cervical and prostate cancer screening; cholesterol and other cardiovascular screenings; diabetes screening and flu shots.

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