Boozman urges elderly Rx sign-up
Posted on Tuesday, February 7, 2006
SPRINGDALE - U. S. Rep. John Boozman urged senior citizens to sign up for the new Medicare Part D plan, saying it can succeed if only people will recognize it is structured like other insurance programs.
"The biggest problem we've had is the implementation,"Boozman, R-Ark., told about 50 people who turned out Monday afternoon for a forum at the Springdale Senior Center.
"You can imagine the tremendous challenge of trying to get millions of people to sign up,"he said. "It was a fiasco. But the program was a step in the right direction."
Medicare Part D seeks to provide affordable access to prescription drugs for Medicare-eligible Americans who voluntarily apply for benefits.
Part D benefits first became available Jan. 1, about six weeks after enrollment began.
But many Americans have faced delays filling their prescriptions because of missing information from computer databases and jammed phone lines at participating insurance companies.
The problems have been especially prevalent among the nation's 6. 2 million Medicare recipients - including an estimated 61, 000 in Arkansas - who formerly received their drug coverage through Medicaid, the state and federal insurance program for the poor. Arkansas was among the states that agreed to temporarily cover expenses for those people during the transition. The federal government later promised to fully reimburse states.
People who are eligible for Medicare Part D but who don't enroll by May 15 must pay an extra 1 percent of the national average premium for every month they delay enrollment. Some who attended the forum wanted to know why the government chose to impose such permanent penalties.
"It's like any other insurance,"Boozman explained. The plan is designed so that even those who currently are in good health must pay in to support the claims of those in immediate need of drugs.
"It's kind of like not having any car insurance until you have a wreck,"Boozman said. "It would be equivalent to not having any house insurance until your house burned."
Monday's audience asked plenty of questions about other topics. Also on their minds were the war in Iraq, immigration, past talk of privatizing Social Security, gas prices and tax cuts for the wealthy.
Charles Christian of Springdale told Boozman he would like the United States to make it more difficult for American companies to exploit illegal immigrants. Christian also asked why the United States doesn't place pressure on the Mexican government with regard to its "human rights record"or help its neighbor better care for its people.
"We're providing resources for these illegals so companies can pay lower wages,"Christian said. Many illegal immigrants are good workers, he said, but their presence in Northwest Arkansas drives down overall wages and overwhelms hospitals and social services. Boozman cited a bill he believes should alleviate some of Christian's concerns. The measure, which passed the House in December, would make employers ensure that their employees have valid Social Security numbers, he said.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
