AU, Dingell, Rangel Demands Bush Administration Release Part D Call Center Performance Data
Published Reports: Insurance Companies Failing to Meet Performance Standards, Lobby Bush Administration to Withhold Performance Data Government Said it Would Release to Aid Seniors
Washington - Americans United today joined federal lawmakers in calling on the Bush Administration to release a review of the performance of the call centers of private insurance plans which are signing up seniors for the Part D prescription drug benefit.
Published reports, including a story in Monday's New York Times, have exposed confusion, delay and long wait times on the phone for seniors trying to enroll in plans or trying to access information. Federal standards "say that 80 percent of calls must be answered in 30 seconds. Test calls to several large insurers suggest that they frequently miss that goal..." [NY Times, April 24, 2006]. A federal contractor, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, has conducted a performance review of the call centers - a review the Bush Administration had pledged to release to the public. However, with less than three weeks to go before the May 15th deadline for seniors and the disabled to enroll in Part D, the performance review data remains under wraps - apparently as a result of heavy lobbying by insurance companies which hold great sway within the Bush Administration.
A federal contractor is making thousands of calls to insurers to measure the performance of their call centers. Each insurer has received data on its own performance. In many cases, the reports say, federal standards were "not met." Medicare officials had said the data would be publicly available before May 15. Insurers are lobbying against disclosure, saying the federal standards are too stringent. [NY Times, April 24, 2006].
Today, U.S. Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI), Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), Pete Stark (D-CA), Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) sent a letter to Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, demanding release of the performance data.
"With less than three weeks to go before the May 15th enrollment deadline - and with phones jammed, confusion and anxiety high and wait times getting longer and longer - it is unconscionable that the Bush Administration has not released a taxpayer funded review of these call centers," said Americans United Brad Woodhouse. "Insurance and drug companies and their shareholders got their way in the drafting of Part D - and now it looks like the special interest influence of insurance companies is going to win out over America's seniors once again. This is an outrage. Seniors and disabled Americans - and all Americans - have a right to know the performance of plans and the results of a review which every American is paying for. Seniors and disabled Americans need all the information available to make good judgments about the performance of the myriad of plans which are available. To withhold this information because insurance companies who are failing to meet the minimum standards of customer service fear embarrassment is immoral and wrong. President Bush should instruct Secretary Leavitt to release this data immediately."
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