Senators Push to Block Medicare Deadline Penalty
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: May 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 16 — A powerful bipartisan group of senators announced today that they would push legislation to eliminate the financial penalty on people who sign up late for Medicare's prescription drug benefit.
The announcement came just 13 hours after the deadline for enrollment.
Bush administration officials, who have defended the penalty for the last six months, said it was premature to take a position on the issue....
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Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the senior Democrat on the panel, initiated the bipartisan effort to waive the penalty, which amounts to a permanent increase of 7 percent on all future premiums (about $2.50 a month next year).
The proposal could win quick approval, perhaps by unanimous consent, in the Senate...The outlook in the House is less certain....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/washington/16cnd-medicare.html?hp&ex=1147838400&en=e771b8fc659e1586&ei=5094&partner=homepage