[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14068]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   WE MUST DO BETTER FOR OUR SENIORS

  (Mr. LIPINSKI asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, the Government Accountability Office 
recently released a report showing that Medicare providers are failing 
our seniors when it comes to providing information about their 
prescription drug coverage. The GAO report says that the phone centers 
operated by private Medicare providers gave accurate and complete 
answers only one-third of the time when people called. On more than 
half of the calls, inaccurate or incomplete information was given, and 
in 15 percent of the calls, no information was given.
  It is absolutely inexcusable that providers seem to be incapable or 
unwilling to provide beneficiaries with good information. Our seniors 
should not be treated like this. Medicare must guarantee that these 
providers give accurate and complete information.
  But this also points out another problem. If Medicare providers do 
not yet understand these plans, how can our seniors? Congress must act 
to give seniors more time to sign up for a drug plan without the 
lifelong penalty they are now facing. Seniors should also be given a 
chance, if they have a plan that is not working for them, to 
immediately change that plan. We see there are many problems with this 
program. Seniors need to be given more time.
  Mr. Speaker, we must do better for our seniors.

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