[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    MEDICARE DO NOT CALL ACT OF 2005

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, today I have joined Senator Corzine to 
introduce the Medicare Do Not Call Act. I am pleased to cosponsor this 
important legislation which will protect Medicare beneficiaries from 
being subjected to telemarketing campaigns related to the new Medicare 
Part D prescription drug program.
  The Part D program will begin in January 2006, and as many of my 
colleagues are already aware, this program will turn the administration 
of the benefit over to health insurance companies. Between now and 
January 1, 2006, Medicare beneficiaries will receive a great deal of 
information from the Federal Government, insurance companies, and local 
organizations regarding how to sign up for the program. Many 
beneficiaries have already received information about the low-income 
coverage options.
  Just last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 
announced which health plans have been approved to offer the benefit. 
In South Dakota, there will be 18 companies offering the stand-alone 
prescription drug plan or PDP. Three companies will offer the Medicare 
Advantage plan, which is an HMO or Health Maintenance Organization type 
plan.
  Starting in October, all of these companies will be allowed to start 
marketing their plans. While I do think it is important for seniors to 
have access to information about the various options, I do not think it 
is OK for these companies to be promoting their products through 
aggressive telemarketing campaigns. There are plenty of other, less 
invasive ways for these companies to get information about their Part D 
product to Medicare beneficiaries and I encourage those efforts, 
whether they be mailings, holding information sessions or releasing 
newspaper and television ads.
  The Medicare Do Not Call Act would prohibit health plans from 
telemarketing their new Medicare prescription drug plans to 
beneficiaries. The bill permits representatives of insurance companies 
offering the Medicare prescription drug benefit to speak with and 
return calls to beneficiaries who initiate contact and permits plans to 
call beneficiaries that are already enrolled in their plans. The 
prohibition only applies to solicitation calls. Those companies that 
violate the law are subjected to criminal penalties for telemarketing 
fraud related to the program.
  I think that this provision is very important, so seniors do not feel 
their privacy is being violated by constant phone calls from numerous 
insurance companies calling their homes. It is important that seniors 
do not feel pressured to choose one plan or another because of 
persistent telemarketers.
  Starting November 15, 2005, all seniors will be able to start 
selecting which insurance company they would like to administer their 
drug benefit. It is my hope that between now and then the information 
sent to beneficiaries is accessible and easily understood. I do have 
great concern that many seniors are going to feel extremely 
overwhelmed, confused and frankly very frustrated about the information 
they receive about the multitude of coverage options. I think that the 
Medicare Do Not Call Act is one step we can take to simplify the 
process and help seniors.
  While I did not support final passage of the legislation that created 
this program because of several concerns I have about how it will 
impact South Dakotans, I still think it is important for seniors to 
examine this program closely and decide for themselves whether the new 
Medicare Part D drug benefit will be worthwhile to them. I will 
continue to work hard to ensure that the people of my State have 
sufficient information before they are expected to make a decision. I 
will also continue to support legislation and other initiatives to make 
improvements to the program and the administration of it.

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