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August 16, 20071.6 Million Low-Income Beneficiaries Will Be Forced into New Drug Plans |
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From: Families USA: An estimated 1.6 million Americans who are low-income beneficiaries of Medicare Part D will be forced to join---or will be assigned---new drug plans by January 1, or they face the option of paying more out of pocket for their prescription drug coverage. These reassignments will occur because of premium increases and technical adjustments buried in the Medicare prescription drug bill, which the Bush administration has fought to preserve unchanged. The scheduled reassignment of low-income beneficiaries to new drug plans was included in a recent news release from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which also announced the 2008 Part D premiums. Low-income beneficiaries have been receiving subsidies---as much as $33 per month, depending on the region where they live---to help cover the cost of their Part D premiums. However, because of a combination of subsidy decreases and premium increases, 1.6 million low-income individuals will no longer have a sufficient subsidy to cover the premiums of their existing plans. "While the administration is touting the fact that premiums have gone up less than they feared, the fact remains that our most vulnerable citizens continue to be the victimized by fundamental flaws in the Part D plan," Kathleen Stoll, Director of Health Policy at Families USA, said today. "Sadly, the flaws in Part D continue to disproportionately affect the people who most desperately need this program, and we urge Congress to fix this discrepancy as soon as possible." Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
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