[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3651]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
       WE NEED TO EXTEND THE DEADLINE FOR MEDICARE PART D SIGN-UP

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, President Bush went to New York 
yesterday to tout his confusing and failing prescription drug plan for 
seniors.
  The Bush administration has botched this plan since day one. For one, 
Medicare itself put out all kinds of wrong information that increased 
confusion among already frustrated seniors. Second, low-income seniors 
that were promised an easy transition from State programs to Federal 
programs ran into huge problems, leaving some seniors no choice but to 
go without their drugs. Third, States were forced to step in and pick 
up the tab for the Federal Government's incompetence. It is no wonder 
that only about five million seniors have willingly signed up for the 
plan.
  Seniors should not be penalized for the Bush administration's 
incompetence. Unfortunately, that is exactly what will happen if 
President Bush does not extend the deadline for seniors to sign up for 
the plan.
  Two months from today, May 15, is the deadline for seniors to sign up 
for a plan; and if they do not, the administration will permanently 
increase their premium with a 1 percent penalty for every month they 
wait to sign up.
  Democrats want this deadline extended, and we want to fix the drug 
plan so it works for seniors and the disabled and not just the drug and 
insurance companies.

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