Frustration over Medicare Part D is mounting as new problems continue to emerge. The complexity of the program, and the necessity of having Internet access to select a drug plan, have forced seniors and persons with disabilities to wait weeks for counseling and assistance. Officials are appealing to the federal government to help with staffing shortages and to supply additional computers. Many areas of the country report that seniors are waiting two weeks for assistance with Medicare certified benefits counselors. One area of the country reported a waiting period of up to four months.

The confusing program is being made even worse by incorrect, unreliable, and changing cost information in the Medicare Drug Plan Finder, the government’s website that seniors must use to compare drug plans. Those assisting seniors are finding that drug plan information for the same person can completely change in less than three weeks.

A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Gary Karr, told USA Today that CMS updates the website weekly with new information from the plans. Drug plans are allowed to adjust drug prices and the amounts Medicare beneficiaries will pay for those drugs. This means, however, that Medicare beneficiaries may not be getting what they think they are signing up for.

Medicare also reports they’ve received scores of complaints about aggressive marketing tactics used by insurance companies and agents. This has included uninvited door-to-door solicitations, which Medicare rules expressly forbid, and misrepresentation of insurance products.

TSCL believes that the program is too complicated and is calling on Congress to extend the Initial Enrollment period to give seniors more time. Under current law, seniors who enroll after the deadline will face a stiff premium penalty of 12% of the premium per year (or 1% per month for each month enrollment was delayed).

Sources: "States Saddled with Delays for Medicare Drug Sign-Up," Richard Wolf, USA Today, December 7, 2005. "County Lacks Advisers to Explain Medicare Benefit," Diane Cochran, Billings Gazette, November 23, 2005. "Glitch Inflates Medicare Drug Costs," Julie Appleby, USA Today, November, 29, 2005. "Insurers’ Tactics in Marketing Drug Plan Draw Complaints," Robert Pear, The New York Times, November 27, 2005.

February 2006