Medicare Prescription Part D

MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION PART D -- (House of Representatives - May 02, 2006)

(Ms. HART asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. HART. Mr. Speaker, the results are in on the new prescription drug program, and they are very encouraging. Nowhere is the success of this new prescription drug benefit more apparent than my home State of Pennsylvania.

Take these statistics into consideration. As of April 1, more than 1.2 million Pennsylvanians have enrolled in the new program. In my district alone, 73 percent of Medicare beneficiaries now have prescription drug coverage, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project that that number will be near 100 percent by the end of this year.

With the May 15 enrollment deadline fast approaching, we should be doing everything we can to help seniors enroll in the new part D program so they can realize the incredible savings the plan offers.

Take the story about Tom and Dolores from Pittsburgh. Tom and Dolores need about a dozen medications, and they feared that they soon would not be able to afford these medicines. They were also afraid that they would not be able to find a plan in their prescription drug program that would cover all the medications that they need as well as their costs. With help from their Medicare Today counselor, both Tom and Dolores found plans that work for them. They now expect to save over $2,000 a year on their costs.

I encourage any Medicare recipient who is not yet enrolled to seek some information from Medicare Today and find out the savings it offers through Medicare part D.

http://thomas.loc.gov