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2.4 Million Auto Enrolled

Now 3 Million in Medicare Drug Discount Program

Medicare says confusion abating but others disagree

June 9, 2004 – The number of senior citizens signing up for the Medicare-approved drug cards has now passed 3 million, according to Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), who testified yesterday before the Senate Finance Committee.

NOTE: To read the complete statements of these testifying, Click Here.

McClellan said about 2.4 million of those enrolled by signed up automatically because they are members of HMO’s. Another 400,000 low-income Medicare card holders are in the process of being enrolled by their states.

He also said problems with delays in answering phone calls and other problems experienced by the new program are getting better.

He blamed much of the confusion about the program to attacks by opponents of the program.

Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican and committee chairman, said “The drug discount card program has been the target of a deliberate campaign to discredit it and confuse seniors about how it works. This effort is drivenand coordinated by those who opposed the Medicare Modernization Act not because of policy, but because of politics. This kind of politically-motivated subterfuge disappoints me. It’s a disservice to the millions of older Americans and people with disabilities who can benefit from a Medicare approved drug discount card.”

The most extensive publicity effort, however, belongs to the Bush administration. It has spent about $50 million so far for advertising, according to a report by the Associated Press.

“The most widely seen critical advertisement was broadcast by AARP, the largest advocacy organization for older Americans, which backed the Medicare legislation last fall. AARP's ad highlights the law's complexity and suggests that AARP can make it understandable,” the AP reported.

The AP also reported that Sen. Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, introduced a bill yesterday to require the administration to reduce the number of cards available to three for each region of the country, require card sponsors to keep discounts at least as deep as they were when a client signed up and prohibit sponsors from dropping medicines.

Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center in New York, testified about the confusion and used the example of a 75-year-old Oregon man who testified enthusiastically last month to a House committee that he was looking forward to cutting his $400-a-month drug bill to $250 with his Medicare drug card.

Hayes said Stan Baumhofer of Portland could have been getting all four prescriptions for $6 a month through low-income assistance programs offered by AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck and Pfizer.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Baumhofer to the AP that he was happy with the discount card he was using, but that the Medicare operator who helped him select a card had no information about manufacturer programs.

“I'm going to pick up a prescription right now that is one-third less,” Baumhofer said.