Editorials: The Disastrous Bush Medicare Drug Plan

Washington, DC - After less than one month, it is clear that President Bush's new Medicare scheme for prescription drugs is a disaster. Hundreds of thousands of Americans across the country have gone without needed medicines and 20 states have had to step in and spend millions to cover seniors and others who have been left in the cold while glitches continue to plague the Bush Administration's failed drug plan. Last week, 14 governors sent a letter to President Bush urging him to "fix problems with the program and demanding that states get reimbursed for the money they are spending to ensure residents have the [drug] benefit." [Portland Press-Herald, 1/18/06]

"The problems with President Bush's new prescription drug scheme for Medicare can be traced directly to the lobbyists who wrote it and the Republicans who received money from drug companies to vote for it," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "As the Republican Medicare Bill shows, when special interests write our laws, it's the special interests who benefit - usually at the expense of the American people. It is a disgrace that seniors have waited weeks to get their medicine, and that states will have to step in and spend millions to clean up the President's mess. The American people deserve better. Democrats believe the only way we can serve the American people is with honest leadership and open government."

Below is a sample of editorials from across the country that discusses the President's failed new drug plan for Medicare:

Lobbyists' Influence Led To Problems In Bush's New Drug Plan. "More than 1,200 pharmaceutical and health industry lobbyists did some of their best work on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. Excellent work, that is, for their clients. The result hasn't been so hot for enrollees in Medicare's new prescription drug program so far, especially the so-called dual eligibles... Complaints reached a crescendo over the weekend for state Rep. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, who talked to one constituent who couldn't get a necessary phenobarbital prescription and another who waited on a Medicare help line for 3 1/2 hours. Kelsey wrote Gov. Phil Bredesen Monday asking him to approve temporary prescription payments for dual eligibles to help keep prescriptions flowing until the federal government gets its act together. Arkansas, California and 18 other states have taken similar action. A spokesman for Bredesen's office said Tuesday that the governor is 'watching this carefully to see how it's impacting the state.'" [Commercial Appeal (Tennessee), 1/18/06]

Prescription Drug Plan Is A "Disaster." "For the weakest of the weak, the new world of Medicare drug coverage began at the stroke of the new year. And as they have sought prescription refills, untold thousands have come away from their pharmacies either empty-handed or with the pharmacies providing the drugs for free because the insurers weren't paying. ...the responsibility should not lie with the state. It lies with Congress, which passed this program into law. And it lies with the Bush administration, which is solely responsible for administering this new Medicare drug benefit. ...How did this mess come to be? The Republicans who run things in Washington refused to let government administer this drug program. Instead, they delegated the job to hundreds of private companies, many of them with no Medicare experience. Most Medicare recipients can choose whether to buy this new drug benefit and pick among the long list of plans and different coverages. But the frailest and the poorest, those on the government's Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in California), were forced into this privatized quagmire. This mangled drug benefit is truly a disaster; it demands an appropriate response." [Sacramento Bee, Editorial, 1/15/06]

California Will Spend Hundreds Of Millions To Cover Glitches In Bush Medicare Scheme. "When the Bush administration presented its Medicare prescription drug plan to Congress, it was touted as a savior for millions of elderly, poor and disabled Americans. Its cost, they estimated, would be $700 billion over the next 10 years. We're guessing the folks at the White House didn't include in that cost estimate the tens of millions being paid out by states as an emergency step to make sure people on the prescription drug plan actually can get the medicines they need. It appears California will spend as much as $150 million to make sure more than 200,000 elderly, poor and disabled state residents can get their prescriptions filled - something most of them have been unable to do under the new Medicare prescription drug 'savings benefit.' This inability to get prescriptions filled is just one of the early glitches in the Bush plan. And even when the pharmacy fills the prescription, some Part D participants discover they're being billed as much as $400 for a prescription for which they used to pay just a few bucks." [Santa Maria Times, Editorial, 1/19/06]

Problems With Bush Drug Plan Could Have Been Avoided. "The new Medicare prescription drug program was to give America's seniors affordable medications, but it has come at a heavy price. Confusion, stress and glitches were common in the first week of the program. Most of this could have been avoided. Some say the program is too complex for seniors, especially those who are ill or cognitively impaired and don't have children or someone else to help them. We think the program is too complex for anyone, regardless of age. When even attorneys are befuddled, it's clear the program needs to be dramatically simplified... Pharmacists, too, have been exasperated, and state officials have been inundated with calls from people who can't get their prescription drugs, especially those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. On Friday, Gov. Doyle and the state stepped in to ensure people get the medications they need." [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Editorial, 1/15/06]

Appleton (Wisconsin) Post Crescent: "There Shouldn't Have Been Problems To Start With." "So the state government, under Gov. Jim Doyle, has decided to help its residents. Last week, Doyle announced the state would pay for the prescriptions of those people who were having problems getting them. In other words, the state is going to cover the costs associated with the federal government's blunders until they get fixed. Many other states are doing the same thing. That's a strong indictment of Part D. State officials said they don't know how much it's going to cost to pick up the tab, but they intend to get reimbursed from the federal government or, in some cases, from drug companies, which are supposed to provide 30 days of drugs when there's a gap because of a coverage shift. The state is doing the right thing. Now, it's up to the federal government to straighten out these problems quickly. There shouldn't have been problems to start with." [Appleton (Wisconsin) Post Crescent, Editorial, 1/19/06]