Mr. Sympathy, Clay Shaw: Seniors Falling into Part D Donut Hole “Not Good Politically”
Mr. Sympathy, Clay Shaw: Thousands of Florida Seniors Plummeting Into the Part D Donut Hole Trap is "Not Good Politically"
Americans United wonders where the devastating health and financial consequences for 7 million seniors and disabled Americans fall on the Congressman's radar - after his own personal political ambitions, of course.
Washington D.C. - Americans United blasted comments made by U.S. Rep. Claw Shaw (R-FL) that call into question the Congressman's priorities as thousands of Florida seniors and the disabled fall into Part D ‘donut hole' trap in the coming weeks, which will have devastating - even fatal - health and financial consequences for many. AU took issue with Shaw's remarks that appeared today in a Bloomberg.com piece - entitled, ‘Shaw, Republicans Find Drug Benefit Fades as Campaign Concern':
"[T]he fact that thousands of beneficiaries stand to lose their coverage six weeks before the Nov. 7 election ``is not good politically, I know that,'' Shaw said. ``You'd much rather have that thing over with by the time people got to the election.''
"It says a lot about Congressman Shaw's priorities, and frankly his character, that he would admit publicly that his primary concern about the massive Part D coverage gap is the possible political ramifications," said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United. "Not a whiff of concern from the Congressman about what falling into the ‘donut hole' will actually mean for thousands of Florida seniors in the coming weeks, like the enormous financial burden of having to foot the entire bill for their prescription drugs and the potentially fatal health consequences for those who simply decide to go without them."
Last month, Americans United released a troubling a new report prepared by the Institute for America's Future that showed that the costly, confusing and corrupt Bush Part D plan has dire health and financial consequences for an estimated 7 million Americans who will soon fall into the program's ‘donut hole' -- a massive gap in coverage for those covered by the program whose annual drug costs are between $2,250 and $5,100. Floridians who fall into the ‘doughnut hole' are forced to pay the full cost of their prescription drugs on top of their costly monthly premiums. The report -- entitled ‘Falling into the Doughnut Hole - revealed that September 22nd is the date the average Medicare-eligible American will fall into the ‘donut hole;' it also detailed how the gap will actually grow over time and the devastating - even fatal - health and financial consequences for the vast majority who can not escape it.
The full report from Institute for America's Future can be found here: http://home.ourfuture.org/reports/medicare/0607-DoughnutHole.pdf
"September 22nd has been identified as ‘National Donut Hole Day' - the date the average Medicare-eligible American, including thousands of Floridians, will fall into the Part D ‘donut hole trap,'" said Funk. "This unfortunate milestone is proof that Part D was written by and for the big drug and insurance companies. There's no other reason this massive coverage gap exists in the first place. There's no other reason why Medicare would be prohibited from negotiating lower prices with the drug companies. There's no other reason why seniors are forbidden from getting a drug plan directly through Medicare. There's no other reason why the private insurance plans are allowed to drop coverage for specific drugs at any time while seniors are locked into their plans."
Americans United launched a national ‘Fix Part D' Campaign earlier this year and has proposed the following fixes:
- Reduce the cost of prescription drugs by requiring Medicare to negotiate lower prices from drug companies,
- Close the "donut hole" referring to the gap in coverage for annual costs between two thousand two hundred fifty dollars and five thousand one hundred dollars which will result in millions of seniors being denied coverage each year while they still pay monthly premiums
- Allow seniors the choice of obtaining their prescription drug plan directly from Medicare--instead of from a private insurance company.
- Re-open Part D enrollment and waive the late enrollment penalty until Part D is fixed.
"If Clay Shaw can't agree to these simple, common sense reforms to Part D - his constituents ought to follow the money to see whose interests he's really putting first," added Funk. "But, considering that since 1989, the Congressman has taken $218,986 from the Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry and $663,725 from the Insurance industry according to OpenSecrets.org - they won't have to dig very deep to see where his sympathies really lie."
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