Calls to put off Medicare deadline intensify

Members of Congress yesterday intensified their calls for the Bush administration to delay a May 15 deadline for seniors and disabled people to enroll in the new prescription drug plan, known as Medicare Part D.

Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, broke party lines and signed a letter calling on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, to get one of the bills extending the deadline to the Senate floor for a vote.

''Choosing the right plan can be a challenge," wrote Snowe. ''Sorting through these plans has proven to be difficult and time consuming . . . the Medicare drug program is experiencing a variety of implementation problems that have disproportionately affected the most vulnerable beneficiaries."

The letter was co-written with US Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida. Nelson said extending the deadline would result in more than 1 million additional seniors signing up for the drug benefit.

Part D, which began Jan. 1, provides prescription benefits to seniors on Medicare, the federal healthcare plan for elders and some people with disabilities. But the plan has proven so complex that it has spread confusion and frustration among many it was intended to help.

Congress and the Bush administration crafted the plan so private insurance companies, not Medicare, would provide medications. That created an avalanche of companies offering coverage. In Massachusetts alone, there are 43 different types of coverage available. Choosing a plan is further complicated by the design of the benefit, which leaves seniors responsible for a big portion of drug costs because of a gap in coverage, known as the ''doughnut hole."

In addition, the rollout has been plagued by computer mistakes, inadequately staffed telephone help lines, and government exaggerations and misstatements.

Under the present plan, seniors who don't already have drug coverage from a retirement plan or union, and who wait past the May 15 deadline to enroll, will pay a penalty resulting in higher premiums -- 1 percent for each month they delay enrollment. The penalty increases premiums for life.

The deadline is intended to spur as many seniors as possible to sign up for a Medicare drug plan, even though they may not take many medications and may not immediately need coverage. Those who sign up would have coverage should they suddenly need medications. By the same token, if seniors with high drug costs are the only ones who sign up for the plan, it will be difficult for the individual insurance companies to provide coverage and make a profit.

But the complexity of the plan has made many leery of signing up, while others have given up in frustration.

''Our seniors deserve to be given every opportunity in choosing a drug plan that best fits their needs, and not held to unrealistic deadlines," said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in a statement. ''It's clear that America's seniors have experienced immense difficulty with the administration's prescription drug program and that problems within the system need to be worked out before seniors are penalized or experience delayed enrollment."

Yesterday, the Bush administration held firm on the May 15 deadline.

''The administration doesn't support an extension," said Peter Ashkenaz, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the drug plan. ''Enrollment is surpassing our goals, satisfaction is high, and we see no reason to extend a deadline that's working. We don't want Medicare beneficiaries to put off savings."

Yet that hard-line position was undermined last week when the administration made an exception for low-income beneficiaries who qualify for government subsidies. Those people were allowed ''ongoing" enrollment past May 15.

Roger Hickey, codirector of the Campaign for America's Future, an economic advocacy group, said he wants the general deadline extended to at least Dec. 31.

''This drug plan is so complex and has been plagued by so many tragic glitches that most seniors are still scratching their heads," said Hickey. ''People should not be penalized for the maddening complexity of the Bush Administration plan."

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, an advocacy group for healthcare consumers that has been a vocal critic of the drug plan, predicted that an extension would soon be passed.

''Congress will ultimately do this even though the president and congressional leaders have resisted so far," Pollack said. ''They continue that resistance at their peril."

Jeffrey Krasner can be reached at krasner@globe.com.