When Congress recessed in mid-February, I hit the road in Iowa. I come home when Congress is out of session. Holding face-to-face meetings with Iowans puts things in better perspective.
It gives me a first-hand account on what’s uppermost in the minds of Iowa workers, families and retirees. While visiting with Iowans in Hamilton County, I discussed federal job training programs, economic development and Highway 20. In Monroe County, I answered questions about immigration policy with a large gathering of concerned citizens. In Story County, I participated in an agriculture policy forum. And in 15 other counties, hundreds of Iowans showed up to share their points of view and ask questions on a range of public policy issues, including alternative fuels, national security, taxes and health care.
So many people in Iowa take their civic duty so sincerely. Representative government is a two-way street. And holding town hall meetings is an important and effective way to communicate with my constituents.
While I canvassed Iowa in February, certain lawmakers flocked to their own districts across the country to deliver a doomsday message to seniors. Despite the fact that more than 100 Democratic lawmakers supported some of the very same provisions now included in the new Medicare drug benefit, some of these same lawmakers are sticking to a disingenuous pattern of scaring seniors for political gain. A number of Democratic leaders would like to gain political advantage leading up to the November mid-term congressional elections by trashing the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
These lawmakers hope to create fire where they saw smoke. It smacks of political expediency and puts the best interest of beneficiaries at risk. It is too bad these lawmakers don’t spend as much time trying to sign up seniors and disabled Americans for drug coverage as they do trying to tear the new benefit apart.
By crowing that the first-ever Medicare prescription drug benefit is a “failure” after only a few weeks since Part D launched on January 1, these lawmakers are doing a major disservice to beneficiaries who stand to benefit significantly with the new drug benefit.
That’s why I’m doing my best to set the record straight.
Let’s let the facts extinguish some of the fiction. Recycled, red-hot rhetoric that pits seniors against insurers and pharmaceutical companies is being used to fan the flames against Medicare’s most significant new benefit for seniors in 40 years. It’s reprehensible to lead beneficiaries astray on this important new benefit. Make no mistake. Medicare Part D offers older citizens and individuals with disabilities a generous, voluntary prescription drug benefit.
Keep in mind that Part D already is filling more than one million prescriptions daily. And despite the partisan attempts to trash the new benefit, voluntary enrollment has picked up considerably. Enrollment in
Iowa increased by more than 30,000 beneficiaries from mid-January to mid-February. More than 72,000 Iowans have enrolled in a stand-alone, voluntary Medicare Part D plan. Thanks to coverage choices available to retirees, either through former employers, veterans programs, federal worker plans, Medicaid and new Medicare Part D, 40 percent of Iowa seniors now have prescription drug coverage.
That’s a good start. But Iowa still has nearly 300,000 Medicare beneficiaries without drug coverage.
Figuring out which plan to choose, I agree, can be complicated. Lawmakers at first were concerned about attracting an adequate choice of insurance plans to stimulate competition. As it stands, strong competition among prescription drug plans has led to lower costs for both beneficiaries and taxpayers. Monthly premiums for beneficiaries in 2006 are now expected to average $25, down from $37.
Again, it’s in the best interest of beneficiaries to make the effort. Part D offers Medicare beneficiaries, who increasingly depend on prescription drugs to enhance their quality of life and/or save their lives, an affordable choice to obtain the medicine prescribed by their doctor.
I encourage Iowa Medicare beneficiaries to give Part D careful consideration sooner rather than later. Some beneficiaries will pay higher fees if they enroll after May 15, 2006.
We shouldn’t let political opportunists undermine this important new benefit for society’s elderly and disabled citizens. While they take the low road in search of victory in November, I’m sticking to the high road and will keep up the pressure to fix the program’s growing pains. Good policy is good politics. And voters, especially seniors, are smart enough not to mistake trash for treasure.