March 29, 2004 - Representative Doyle joined Nancy Murray, President of Arc of Greater Pittsburgh, and Dee Mahan of Families USA today at a seniors center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to inform seniors about the new Medicare prescription drug law. Congressman Doyle, Nancy Murray, and Mahan talked to seniors about what they should expect from the new Medicare law. Over 50 attendees watched an educational video hosted by veteran anchorman Walter Cronkite and were written materials about the new law.

“Seniors have the right to expect that, as with traditional Medicare, once they’ve paid their premiums and deductibles, Medicare will cover a large percentage of their additional costs for the rest of the year,” Congressman Doyle said. “Seniors are usually shocked to find that they’ll get a lot less help in paying for their drugs under the new law than they’re expecting.”

“Under the new prescription drug benefit,” Doyle explained, “you pay $670 up front each year in premiums and deductibles. Then Medicare covers 75 percent of your drug costs up to a total of $2,250. After that (at which point you’ve laid out $1,170 each year out of your own pocket) you’re on your own again - paying 100 percent of the next $2,850 in drug costs - until your drug costs for the year top $5,100. Only after you’ve spent nearly $4,000 out of pocket will Medicare kick in again to cover a large part of your prescription drug costs. And that’s the way it’s going to work every year. Every year, seniors are on the hook for nearly $4,000 in out-of-pocket costs before the Medicare catastrophic prescription drug coverage kicks in. I think that requiring seniors who need expensive life-saving drugs to come up with $4,000 or more each year for out-of-pocket prescription drug costs is outrageous.”

“Seniors are bewildered by the law’s bizarre and skimpy drug benefits, and they are angry that it prohibits Medicare from bargaining for more reasonable prices,” said Dee Mahan, Senior Health Policy Analyst for Families USA. “This new law represents the biggest change to Medicare since the program's inception. Although seniors are disappointed and confused about the new Medicare law, they need to understand it so they can make choices that are in their best interest.”

Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Like Congressman Doyle, this organization opposed the bill while it was being discussed in Congress and now hopes to lay the foundation for future changes to the law by raising awareness among seniors about its shortcomings.

One of topics discussed was a discount card that seniors can purchase later this year. Congressman Doyle and Ms. Mahan criticized the cards because seniors will be locked into the cards they choose for a year, while the drugs covered by the card and the amount of the discount may change every week.

“This new law does nothing to keep prescription drugs affordable,” Doyle said. “As the video mentioned, the new law prohibits Medicare from using its purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices with drug manufacturers. That’s just an outrageous, unnecessary giveaway to the big drug companies.”

“This isn’t the comprehensive, affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit that our seniors expect and deserve,” Congressman Doyle said. “It was a really bad deal for most of the senior citizens in Allegheny County. That’s why I opposed it when Congress voted on it last year. Rest assured that I will continue to fight to allow Medicare to bargain for better drug prices on behalf of our nation’s seniors, and that I will continue to work to provide America’s seniors with the comprehensive, affordable prescription drug benefit they deserve.”

To see the information presented at this event and find out how much you would pay for prescription drugs under the new Medicare law, click here: