GOP Wavers On Penalties In Medicare Drug Plan (undercutting Bush)

[Rose Siding]

As older Americans face a nationwide deadline Monday to sign up for Medicare prescription drug coverage, key Republicans are examining ways to remove or reduce financial penalties the Bush administration plans to charge people who try to join the program after the enrollment cutoff, according to lawmakers and legislative aides.

GOP lawmakers are reluctant to talk openly of their plans before midnight on May 15, for fear of counteracting a cheerleading blitz that President Bush and his top health advisers have undertaken to spur a last-minute surge in enrollment.

Still, motivated by Republicans' concerns about their prospects in the fall elections and by persistent confusion about the new drug benefit, several of Congress's architects of the program have concluded that it would be unwise to punish people who miss the deadline. The rethinking of the penalties, by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), House Ways and Means health subcommittee Chairman Nancy L. Johnson (R-Conn.), and others, marks the first time Republicans have broken with the White House over the program.

The GOP's unease with the penalties, in the days before the enrollment deadline, marks the latest bump in the government's efforts over the past six months to launch a 2003 law that created the biggest expansion in the history of Medicare, the health insurance program for 42.5 million elderly and disabled Americans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/12/AR2006051202081.html

[rodeodance]

1. Grassley is usuallly a Bush doormat. This surprizes me.

[rodeodance]

2. Lets have a mass comment to Grassley--this is important!

[rodeodance]

3. you call his Medicare mailbox and leave a message here:

Grassley Reminds Medicare Beneficiaries of Deadline to Sign Up for Prescription Drugs

***An audio comment is now available from Senator Grassley regarding the Medicare Prescription Drug sign-up deadline. The comment can be found at http://www.src.senate.gov . The comment can also be found by dialing 1-800-545-1267 and then pressing the number for Grassley’s mailbox, 3-1-1.***

[Bush_MUST_Go]

4. This is good news. And a return to common sense.

I never could understand why the admin. should be so eager to PENALIZE senior citizens for NOT signing up before a cetain date.

And it's unconscionable to use the excuse that seniors could always switch to a different plan after the year is up. It's just a cruel attempt to rush them to make a decision & lock them in for a year.

[Robbien]

5. Since the plan is a gift to drug and insurance companies

yes it defeats the purpose to close registration. Perhaps they always meant to say they are going to close registration to get people to hurry and join, but always meant to let in the last remaining holdouts. All the sheep must be shorn to squeeze out the last remaining dollar.

[pooja]

9. seriously

This drug bill was a confusing "help" for seniors.... they don't want it to last forever... its too expensive to fund. Make it confusing and really not that helpful and it will seem like a great idea

[WePurrsevere]

6. We haven't signed up yet, if no penalty we probably won't until we NEED to

since we actually don't use Rx drugs enough to justify the extra cost out of our rather limited SSD funds right now.

What makes more sense right now for us is our county in NNY has a discount Rx plan for ALL residents and it sounds good that they'll be offering the same for health care after July (and hopefully dental too in a year or two.) If this plan looks as good as it sounds we may rethink paying the $90 for the Medicare Part B we rarely use as well.

I'm tired of the government that's supposed to be for ALL PEOPLE working mostly to help make big companies (like the Pharm comp) richer while many of us are struggling to heat our homes, put food on the table, pay property/school taxes, etc.

[slipslidingaway]

7. Kick, R'ed earlier!

[Rainscents]

8. Of course Thugs want to do this now... Election, Election.

Please vote for me... see, what I did for you??? :eyes: