RAHALL REPORT: Medicare Part D Coverage Gap is a Bitter Pill to Swallow
From the desk of U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV)Representing West Virginia's 3rd District
Washington, DC (HNN) -- With the Medicare Part D Program enrollment period for next year about to begin, it's no secret that 3.4 million seniors, including many West Virginians, are getting stuck in what is being referred to as a "doughnut hole," where they are paying for prescription drug coverage but not receiving any benefit.
It's a coverage gap that never made sense and it is one of the reasons I voted against the Medicare Prescription Drug Act of 2003 when it was before the House.
What many may not know is that new studies indicate that this is a gap that is getting wider, and swallowing more and more of our seniors' hard-earned money with each passing day.
In fact, a new study by Families USA finds that the number of beneficiaries without any access to meaningful drug coverage in the "doughnut hole" will jump from 400,000 in 2006 to 6.6 million in 2007-an 18-fold increase.
The study also finds that for those who do not have access to meaningful coverage, the median monthly payment for that plan will skyrocket by 87 percent in 2007-making it unaffordable to many.
This report comes on the heels of another study issues by Government Reform Democrats, which shows that the average premium for stand-alone drug plans will rise by 13 percent in 2006-more than three times faster than inflation.
Meanwhile, the drug industry profits have increased substantially since the new Medicare Drug Program went into effect in January of 2006. When I say "substantially" I don't mean by hundreds of dollars, or even by millions of dollars. Drug company profits increased an astounding $8 BILLION DOLLARS ... in six months.
Yet the Republican leadership continues to refuse to allow Medicare to negotiate fair drug prices for our seniors. I remember when the legislation was passed in 2003, many of my colleagues and I repeatedly attempted to include negotiation as a cornerstone of the program. It fell on deaf ears with Republican Majority Leader Tom Delay then, just as it falls on deaf ears with Republican Majority Leader John Boehner today. The VA negotiates cheaper drug prices for our veterans. Why can't Medicare do the same for our seniors?
Why are the pockets of drug companies getting deeper while the pockets of our seniors are getting emptied? Something is terribly wrong with this picture.
I am trying to fix this picture by supporting several pieces of legislation in Congress I believe will reduce the costs of the plan on our Medicare beneficiaries.
The Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act of 2005 , for example, gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) the ability to negotiate the drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers, reducing costs to the American taxpayer and our seniors. It also requires the Secretary of HHS to offer one or more Medicare operated prescription drug plans nationally that offer qualified prescription drug coverage and access to negotiated prices, while allowing the plan to offer supplemental prescription drug coverage in the same manner as other qualified prescription drug coverage offered by other prescription drug plans. Yet this Democratic initiative continues to languish in committee, without any support from the Republicans in Congress.
I am also co-sponsoring legislation in the House of Representatives that will make certain no more than 25 percent of a Social Security recipient's annual cost of living increase, or COLA, can be taken away by increases in Medicare premiums.
I have asked the Secretary of HHS to not implement the Bush Administrations FY07 budget request for Medicare, including limiting the ability of States to pay State and local hospitals to help cover the cost of serving uninsured patients. This devastating budget request ignores the contributions that our elderly have made and continues to mistakenly allocate money toward other failed policies. As I have in the past, I will continue to fight for the financial priorities that West Virginians hold dear.
While these steps are hardly a cure-all, they will go a long way to ease the burden, and recognize the concerns of this failed policy on West Virginia families.
In the meantime, I will continue to fight for a health system that is both affordable and accessible. Those who have given so much to our society over the years simply deserve better.