Contributed by William Angelos| 14 October, 2006 15:45 GMT
Some consumer advocates are accusing Medicare of using bait-and-switch tactics in luring people to the program and then hiking the price. Recipients will have more plans to choose from this year and a shorter time frame to make their decision.
The cost of the Medicare prescription drug program is likely to go up significantly for many senior and disabled beneficiaries, according to some consumer groups and congressional Democrats, who charge that the government is not being forthcoming about the price increases.
Monthly premiums for those who keep the same plan will average $24 in 2007, about the same as this year, according to the government.
However, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, maintains that average premiums charged by private companies offering the benefit will increase 13.2 percent in 2007 while premiums for the lowest-priced plans in each state will go up 44 percent.
"The department's numbers appear to be wrong, and they disguise significant increase in premiums for Medicare drug plans," Rep. Waxman says in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. "The release of erroneous information about the cost of premiums -- whether deliberate or not -- is a disservice to millions of seniors."
Dr. Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, called Rep. Waxman's analysis "incomplete and misleading." |
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