Originally published February 26 2006
Democrats fail to pass Medicare deadline extension in Senate
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Florida Senator Bill Nelson presented a tax legislation amendment in the Senate to help seniors enroll in the troubled prescription drug program offered by Medicare, but the measure did not receive the 60 votes necessary to pass.
The amendment also would have allowed people to switch their prescription drug coverage to another plan if they were unhappy with current coverage.
He said passing a bill would only cause delays in solving problems that can be dealt with administratively by Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
At a hearing on the problem earlier Thursday, Nelson told fellow lawmakers of seeing elderly people weep as they described difficulties in filling their prescriptions.
Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said she's heard from three pharmacists in her state who have had to take out loans because they could not get reimbursed quickly enough for drugs dispensed to customers who had no means to pay them.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was tired of hearing how so many people were signing up.
"I for one believe we should scrap this and start over," Clinton said.
Republicans also said they had heard from people who have had difficulty filling prescriptions, or have been charged more than they should have been, but they told Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that the program should be fixed, not scrapped.
The Bush administration had asked private insurers to supply older people with an additional 60-day supply of medicine in emergency cases.
The program is working for most people, McClellan said, and competition among the private plans was driving down costs.
McClellan told the Senate Special Committee on Aging that the new cost estimates reflect people's choice of plans that offer the lowest premiums.
The benefit should lower drug costs for most participants because the government is subsidizing their drug costs.
McClellan said the government would work to make sure that private plans reimburse the states.
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