Seniors are Saving on their Medications

Seniors are Saving on their Medications

Washington, D.C. - Two and a half years ago, Republicans delivered on a promise we made to the American people by passing sweeping Medicare reform, including a comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit to give America's seniors access to affordable prescription drugs. Now that the program is off the ground, the evidence is in and we have much to celebrate: the Medicare prescription drug benefit is working, and seniors are saving money. Over 90 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries now have drug coverage - that's 38 million seniors. As of this summer in Ohio, 1.4 million more seniors have prescription drug coverage than before the benefit began.

Prior to enactment of this measure, Medicare had changed little since its creation in the 1960s. The program brought a 20th-century attitude to 21st-century medicine, funding expensive operations but failing to fund prescription drugs. Medicare would pay for your operation to install a pacemaker after a heart attack, but it wouldn't pay for the heart medicine that might have prevented the heart attack in the first place.

The reforms changed all this. Thanks to the reforms passed in 2003, which took effect on January 1 of this year, millions of seniors are now receiving low-cost prescription drugs through the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. In the face of attacks and attempts to scare seniors away from signing up, many of us teamed up with local advocacy organizations to hold thousands of events across the country to educate seniors about the new benefit. The results of those efforts can be seen in the record sign-up, which far surpassed enrollment goals. More importantly, seniors are saving. The average beneficiary expects to save $1,100 a year.

And there is more good news. Competition is reducing the cost of the benefit both for seniors and for tax payers. Premiums were originally expected to be $37 per month, but competition among the plans has reduced average premiums to just $24 per month. Low-income beneficiaries are receiving significant assistance, often paying little or no premium, co-pay or deductible. Estimated tax payer costs of the plan from 2006 to 2015 have dropped by $180 billion.

The initial sign-up deadline ended on May 15th, but our commitment to America's seniors hasn't stopped. The House Ways and Means Committee recently held a hearing to examine how the benefit is working, and the Medicare agency announced that seniors who qualify for the low income benefit can continue to enroll past the deadline penalty-free. The Social Security Administration is reaching out to low income-eligible individuals through targeted education and application events, direct mailings and follow-up phone calls. The Medicare agency is coordinating closely with SSA and local organizations on personalized grassroots outreach.

The Medicare prescription drug benefit represents the most significant modernization to any public health program in our nation's history. Seniors signed up in droves and are saving a lot of money. The best part are the stories that I have heard from seniors and their families in the district who finally have the piece of mind that they can get the medicines they need. When millions of America's seniors go from having limited access to prescription drug coverage to having the choice to select affordable coverage that best meets their needs, we all have much to celebrate.

http://www.house.gov/list/press/oh02_schmidt/medications.html