Bush rejects more Medicare sign-up time

WASHINGTON – President Bush insisted Tuesday that the Monday deadline for picking a Medicare prescription drug plan would stand, even as key Republican lawmakers suggested they may take action retroactively to protect people who miss the Monday cutoff.

Speaking Tuesday at a retirement community in Sun City Center, Fla., Bush urged eligible seniors to act quickly. “Deadlines are important,” he said. “Deadlines help people understand there’s finality, and people need to get after it, you know?”

Republicans on Capitol Hill said that while they hope as many people sign up as possible before the deadline, they are willing to revisit certain coverage terms.

“There are all kinds of resources to help people make a good decision,” said Senate Finance Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, whose committee has jurisdiction over the drug program. “I don’t want to discourage anyone from taking action by the May 15 deadline, so I’ll consider what might be done to help those who miss the deadline after next Monday.”

Republican aides said Congress could well end up waiving the monthly penalty for seniors who are not currently covered by a comparable private or state-run drug plan. One scenario under consideration would give seniors until the end of the year to choose a plan, before the extra fee takes effect.

With the deadline looming, about 5.7 million of the 42 million seniors and disabled people eligible for the drug program have not signed up. Both government officials and outside advocates say the response has been lowest among those who stand to reap the greatest benefit from the program: the one-third of senior citizens who are low-income.

Families USA, an advocacy group, estimates that fewer than one in four low-income senior citizens have enrolled in the program, despite an expensive government outreach to educate people about the benefit.

The administration announced Tuesday that it would waive the deadline for low-income seniors, who account for about half of the 5.7 million eligible seniors who have yet to enroll in any drug plan.

Julie Goon, director of Medicare outreach for the Department of Health and Human Services, told reporters that low-income seniors face a two-step process, having to first apply for a subsidy through Social Security, making the registration process more laborious. Also, the penalty that low-income seniors face would be so minimal, “it would cost more to collect it than it would be to actually have the value of that penalty collected,” Goon said.

For months, Democrats have sought to push back the enrollment date to allow seniors more time to sort through the different insurance packages on offer. In some regions, that number can top 40 plans, all with different premiums, co-payments, coverage gaps, preferred drugs, and so on.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California will join more than 200 seniors at an event today to call for an extension, and some Republicans also support a delay. “People are confused,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.