Congressman Mike Ferguson was an avid supporter of the Medicare Part D prescription plan when the bill passed back in 2003 after
much arm-twisting by Republican leaders in the House and
intentional misstatement of the true costs by the White House.
The implementation of the plan has been disasterous, with many seniors who signed up for plans not being entered in the system and unable to get the drugs their doctors prescribed, "being turned away or overcharged at pharmacies, prompting more than a dozen states to declare health emergencies and pay for their life-saving medicines." Throughout the country, participation in the plan is significantly below expectations because of the confusing and often incomprehensible number of plan choices.
On March 10, the Courier-Post reported that the State of New Jersey has stepped in to protect its seniors from being overcharged and denied needed drugs to the tune of $150 million. That's your state tax dollars being used to pay for a federal program that is not working properly, and the federal government is refusing to help out.
Despite the difficulty, however, the Bush administration's chief Medicare officer, Mark McClellan, opposes efforts by Congress to give seniors more time to wade through the prescription benefit information. McClellan also doesn't think now is the time to fully reimburse states that have paid to continue prescriptions for low-income seniors during the early months of the program.
McClellan said he wants his agency to work out the kinks in the prescription program before any reforms are made.
McClellan refuses to help seniors who are confused about the program get more time to understand it and make the right choices. McClellan refuses to pay for the program he administers, forcing New Jersey taxpayers to foot the bill for his mistakes.
Now, a strong representative from New Jersey who is Vice Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health would be outraged that his state was being treated this way, that the seniors in his district are being denied needed medicine and overcharged for prescriptions. A strong representative who cared more about his constituents than his political bosses would take the opporuntiy to question McClellan on the Bush administration's failure to implement this program in a competent way to demand answers to what when wrong.
Mike Ferguson is Vice Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health, and on March 1, 2006 McClellan testified to that very committee. Ferguson asked McClellan why niacin is being taken off the list of covered medicines. Not one word about the problems of implementation. Well, he did say this:
"I appreciate the great work you've done on the implementation of this program."
Kind of reminiscent of President George Bush reviewing the disasterous and incompetent response of FEMA to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the surrounding states, then turning to his incompetent FEMA Director Michael Brown and saying, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Crossposted from Dump Mike