According to the Medicare D(isaster) legislation, the deadline for the enrollment period is May 15 of this year. However, there have been many complaints that there are too many plans to choose from, as well as the hidden restrictions in several of the plans. Despite these concerns, gwb is refusing any extension of the enrollment period because
“No, and the reason why is there’s got to be a fixed time for people to sign up.”
He has given no specifics as to why the time period must be fixed. Instead, he has ignored the concerns of those he is elected to serve and is forcing people to make a hasty decision, under the guise of an advisory soft-sell.
Sen. Orrin Hatch has also joined in to urge people to take the May 15 deadline “seriously” and investigate plans, rather than hoping for an unlikely extension.
continued
However, last month, Senate Republicans pushed an amendment offerred by Charles Grassely that would give the Michael Leavitt the authority to move the deadline back if people need more time to enroll. It passed 76-22.
But, Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center stated,
“The secretary must not turn his back on the millions of Americans who need drug coverage. People continue to be paralyzed by the array of confusing private drug plan choices and anxious that they will be locked into a plan that does not meet their needs.”
The intricacies and the limitations of the available Medicare D(isaster) plans have been documented by Henry Waxman and hearings have taken place. In addition, there is an ongoing investigation by Pete Stark into some of the sales tactics of some insurers.
The efforts by the Medicare Rights Center in advocating for an extension of the deadline have been encouraged. According to Peter Hebertson, outreach program manager for Salt Lake County Aging Services, the agency has been taking calls and assisting with enrollment questions since Nov. 15 2005. He also is of the opinion that an extension is necessary.
“It would be very beneficial and only fair to extend the deadline some. We were behind at the beginning because of the computer issues with Medicare. We’ve done a good job getting through to those people. But it’s starting to pick up again with the deadline approaching, and we know it will be crazy May 1.”
However, Mark Levine, of the Denver region of the CMS, stated,
“It appears as though, without a special change of law, it would not be possible to extend the deadline. If you are one of the 76,441 [Utahns] who have not enrolled . . . it might be time to revisit it and make a decision before May 15.”
Guess some in government and at CMS haven’t heard or read anything about it!!!
available in orange and at My Left Wing
As usual bush gives one of his stupid answers that really isn’t an answer.
He keeps saying that people, church organizations, etc etc should be helping all their parents to find the right plan which should tell people right there how stupid and fucked up and complicated this whole mess is.
I’d really, really like him to have to go one his little community photo ops and actually have to sit down with some older person who may be very confused and give him some 60 plans and make him try and read through them and pick out the best one for that person..how long do you think that would take Kid?…ha…considering he can’t read he’ll be sitting there until hell freezes over and that poor old person will be screwed, right?
In many instances, the organizations that he is referring to are claiming that they have a shortage of funding due to excessive need, i.e., the economy going belly up.
And you are right, this whole thing is a mess. And all gwb does is tell people to sign up anyway. Doubt that he could even figure out which plan would be best for anyone, considering that his reading comprehension level appears to be limited to “My Pet Goat”.
I’m trying to help my mother and it’s very confusing to decide which plan is best for her.
The true genius(hard to use that word in context with bushie) of bush seems to be that anything he touches becomes not only bad but a truly monumental fuck-up of epic proportions.
I hope you can find the best plan for your mom without to much more stress. One of the worst(ha ha) aspects of this disaster is once you have a plan there is no guarantee that the drugs will be covered say several months from now. The insurance companies are supposed to notify you two months in advance if they are taking a certain drug off their covered list but…..One of the drugs I take was covered, then in April when I went in to refill prescriptions it wasn’t and I had no warning at all.
My understanding is that after a year if you’re not satisfied with the plan you can then shop around for another one. More added stress if you have to do this all over again.
Not trying to be a downer here but there isn’t much good to be said about this D(isaster)Plan.
there isn’t much good to be said about this D(isaster)Plan.
The whole thing is flat out ridiculous.
We have to go single payer!
Wishing you the best w/that. Only thing I can suggest is to make sure that all of mom’s rx’s are covered.