Editorial: Extend the deadline for Medicare drug benefit plan

La Crosse Tribune
May 10, 2006

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle think the federal government should give senior citizens more time to sign up for Medicare drug coverage.

They’re right. Less than a week before the May 15 deadline to sign up for the new Medicare Part D drug benefit plan, millions of senior citizens have not yet signed up. If they fail to do so by May 15, they will face penalties of 1 percent a month — or 7 percent in 2006.

One reason why so many people have yet to sign up is the confusing nature of this plan. Rather than have just one program, the federal government allowed seniors to choose between private plans — some of which may not cover all the drugs a particular person might need.

In addition, a Government Accountability Office study found that the help line the government set up to assist senior citizens offered very confusing advice.

For example, studies show that about 40 percent of senior citizens read at a fifth-grade level. But the documents provided to explain the program are written for people with between seventh-grade a post-graduate education levels.

In addition, the study found that the Medicare Web site can be hard to use, including a prescription drug plan “finder” that was designed to help people sort out which plans offered the drugs they need.

Doyle and Kind want the government to extend the deadline until November to allow for more people to figure out what they want to do without having to face a penalty.

“Every eligible citizen who wants to sign up should be given ample time to do so,” Kind said. “The right thing to do is to extend the deadline so our seniors and disabled are not made to pay for a complicated program that has been rife with problems from the very beginning.”

He’s right. This program has been confusing and over-complicated. Let’s not punish senior citizens for that by imposing financial penalties. Give them more time to sign up.

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