MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROGRAM
BENEFITS PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES
NOT SENIORS!

The Medicare prescription drug program that took effect on January 1, 2006, has been a disaster for America’s seniors. The program has denied medications to poor seniors, forcing 26 states to declare a “public health disaster” and to implement emergency legislation to provide drugs to low-income seniors. At the same time, millions of seniors are continuing to encounter other serious problems with the program.

Medicare is prohibited from negotiating lower drug prices. Even though the Veteran’s
Administration already negotiates for lower drug prices, the Medicare prescription drug program prohibits Medicare from using its enormous purchasing power to do the same thing for seniors. If Medicare negotiated for lower drug prices, these savings could be passed along to seniors by reducing their premiums or by expanding their benefits (such as by filling in the “donut hole”).

Private drug plans are allowed to make changes in the drugs they cover during the year but beneficiaries are locked in and cannot change plans until the next year. Seniors may sign up for a particular drug plan because it promises to cover certain drugs at a specified cost. These seniors can then be stuck without any recourse for a year if the private drug plan suddenly decides to stop covering a particular drug.

The program does not cover any annual prescription drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100. Because of this so-called “donut hole” in the benefit, millions of seniors will not receive any coverage for a substantial portion of their prescription drug costs.
The program is extremely complicated and confusing. Seniors may be confronted with as many as 30 different plans. As a result, it is hard for seniors to make informed decisions about the program.

Seniors will be hit with penalties if they don’t enroll in a plan by May 15. Despite the confusing number of plans and many other problems in the Medicare prescription drug program, seniors have to enroll by May 15, or they will be forced to pay higher premiums for the rest of their lives.

These major defects in the Medicare prescription drug program are not an accident. They are directly attributable to the fact that the program was written for the benefit of the major pharmaceutical companies, not for the benefits of senior citizens. The drug industry contributed millions of dollars to Republicans who wrote the Medicare prescription drug law.

Please contact your Representative and Senators right away. Urge them to go back and fix the Medicare prescription drug program so it can provide a simple, affordable and reliable benefit to seniors.

Email your Region 8 Congressman or Senator by clicking here.