Maine People's Alliance - Press Releases

Mainers Gather at Miller Drug to Call on Senators Snowe and Collins to Support Legislation to Extend the May 15th Medicare Part D Enrollment Deadline

Maine People's Alliance and seniors say deadline must be extended to allow time to fix the “costly, confusing and corrupt” prescription drug program

BANGOR—The Maine People's Alliance and local seniors gathered at Miller Drug in Bangor on Wednesday, May 3rd to demand that federal lawmakers extend the approaching May 15th deadline for enrollment in Medicare Part D. The Maine People's Alliance is launching a joint campaign to fix Part D with Americans United, a national organization with which MPA worked last year to defeat President Bush’s effort to privatize Social Security. The two groups have embarked on a campaign to pressure Congress and President Bush to fix Part D and provide a drug benefit that is simple, affordable and guaranteed.

“It is no wonder that millions of eligible Americans without current drug coverage haven’t signed up for Part D yet—it is costly, confusing, and corrupt!” said Jesse Graham, Associate Director of the Maine People's Alliance. “Senators Snowe and Collins should stand up for Maine seniors and support an extension of the May 15th deadline to enroll in Part D. It is recklessly irresponsible to allow Part D to plow over millions of Americans at a huge cost to all of us, when Congress can extend the deadline and take that time to fix the program to make a simple, affordable and guaranteed benefit.”

An extension of the May 15th deadline would allow the time to make changes to Part D without penalizing the 15 million eligible Americans without drug coverage who have not yet enrolled. One of the most persistent complaints about the drug plan is that it is confusing and difficult for seniors and the disabled to access, navigate and understand. Part D comes with more than 500 plans nationally all with different premiums, co-pays and formularies. Even after someone has sifted through all of the confusion to sign up for a plan, insurance companies can drop coverage of the drugs enrollees need, while they are forced to remain in the same plan.

If the deadline is not extended, seniors who sign up during the next open enrollment period in November, and who begin receiving coverage in January, will have accrued a minimum of a 7% penalty on their monthly premiums, which they will have to pay every month for the rest of their lives.

“Part D is an example of what happens when you let insurance and pharmaceutical companies sit at the steering wheel of healthcare reform,” said Graham. “Their motive is to boost their own bottom line, not make sure that average citizens get the health care they need. We call on Senators Snowe and Collins to put the interests of average Maine citizens before lining the pockets of drug companies.”

Speakers at the event discussed a number of problems with the drug plan as it is currently written.

Bill Miller, Pharmacist at Miller Drug in Bangor, said he is already seeing seniors come into the Pharmacy who have reached the so-called “doughnut hole” in the Part D prescription drug coverage. “Coming up against the need to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket before their coverage kicks in again has been quite a shock for some,” he said.

Phil Wolley, a Member of the Maine Council of Senior Citizens, criticized the law for preventing negotiation for better drug prices. “The Veterans Administration has been in negotiation with pharmaceutical companies for years for lowered costs of medication,” Wolley said. “Nonetheless, the current Part D legislation prevents Medicare from negotiating directly with pharmaceutical companies for lowered prescription drug prices. Drug prices have risen more than 14% since Part D took effect!”

The Maine People's Alliance and Americans United are calling for the following changes to Part D:

Graham praised the work that Governor Baldacci and other Maine leaders, as well as Maine service and volunteer agencies, have done to ease the implementation of Part D, but cautioned that more work remains.

“As we did with Dirigo Health, once again Mainers have stepped into the breach where federal healthcare reform falls short to make sure that our Maine neighbors are not falling through the cracks,” Graham said. “In Maine, we believe in taking care of our neighbors and making sure that everyone has access to good quality health care. Right now, we are concerned about people living alone and without social support who may be unaware of the services available to help them wade through this disaster. The deadline must be extended.”

This press conference occurred on the same day as the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on Medicare Part D in Washington. The hearing comes after months of anxiety and confusion for seniors and disabled Americans.

“We already know that there are a host of problems with Part D, most of which cannot be fixed without legislation to re-write the law,” said Graham. “If today’s hearing identifies solutions which could be implemented to make Part D simpler and more affordable for seniors, what are the chances that either the Administration or Congress could address them before the May 15th deadline, less than two weeks from now? Virtually zero.”

The Eastern Area Agency on Aging has held enrollment clinics throughout the state helping people understand and enroll in the plan. With the enrollment deadline currently set for May 15th, EAAA will hold their last clinic at Bangor High School on May 13th from 2:00-4:00. Seniors can simply show up, and family members are welcome. Call EAAA at 941-2865 or toll free at 1-800-432-7812.

Graham reiterated that Medicare is a successful program that has helped seniors for years, but that the Part D Drug benefit is a disaster. “Medicare works,” he said. “Part D doesn’t.”