Medicare Rights Center calls for
Bush Administration to end subsidies to drug and insurance
companies, restore fiscal responsibility to Medicare instead of
second consecutive year of double digit premium increases
Below is a statement from Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare
Rights Center, regarding the Bush Administration's announcement of
the high jump in the Medicare premium:
This year's 13.2 percent jump in the Medicare premiums will hurt
millions of older and disabled Americans living on fixed incomes.
More men and women will face harsh choices in meeting basic human
needs - health, food and housing. The Medicare premium jump will be
triple the cost of living increase people with Social Security can
expect in 2006.
The sharp increase in Medicare premiums is ironic and painful in a
year that the Administration is offering billions of dollars in
subsidies to the drug and insurance industries as part of its
ideological campaign to privatize Medicare.
Coming on top of last year's record 17.4 percent premium increase,
this year's increase raises grave questions about the
Administration's
stewardship of Medicare, for 40 years a national treasure.
In announcing the premium increase late this afternoon, the
Administration said that "about one in four Medicare beneficiaries
can get extra assistance" to pay their Part B premiums.
What the Administration did not say is that only one in ten older
and
disabled Americans eligible for that assistance actually get it.
That is
because of shameful bureaucratic hurdles that bar the neediest
Americans from the assistance they will need, in the year ahead,
more than ever.
The Administration should not hide the hardship these increases will
cause our parents and grandparents. The Administration should
restore a sense of fiscal responsibility to Medicare. And the
Administration should tear down the bureaucratic barriers people
face to securing assistance to pay these record high premiums.
The Medicare Rights Center, founded in 1989, is the largest
independent
source of information and assistance on health care rights and
benefits for
older and disabled men and women in the United States. For more
information
about MRC, call 212-204-6219, or visit the MRC web site:
http://www.medicarerights.org.