The rollout of the new Medicare prescription-drug discount cards for seniors got off to a slightly rough start this week, with some card sponsors complaining about price discrepancies on the government’s Web site.
Democrats also did not miss the opportunity to attack the new program.
“The Bush administration drug cards don’t pass the truth-in-advertising test. They’re no solution to sky-high drug prices,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. “The administration can’t even give the public honest figures about prices for drugs under the new cards.”
The government launched a Web site late last week run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for seniors to compare the drug prices that they would get under the more than 70 government-approved sponsors offering drug-discount cards.
But groups offering the discount cards are complaining that the government Web site is incorrectly listing their drug prices.
“The prices just aren’t right; some are too high, some are too low,” said Mary Ann Wagner, president of the Pharmacy Care Alliance, which is sponsoring a card through the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and Express Scripts.
Medco Health Solutions, another group sponsoring a discount card, initially found price discrepancies on the CMS Web site, but corrected most of them by Monday, said spokeswoman Jennifer Leone.
“Prices on the Web site are fairly accurate, give or take a few dollars,” she said.
Meanwhile, Republicans began a public-relations campaign this week to launch the drug cards, praising the 10 percent to 25 percent savings on drugs they say seniors will get from the cards. The cards are the first phase of the Medicare prescription-drug benefit that Republicans and President Bush pushed through Congress last year. The benefit begins in 2006.
“The availability of these cards will provide tangible benefits to millions of seniors,” said Rep. Bill Thomas, California Republican and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Democrats said that like the overall Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the drug cards are poorly structured, confusing to seniors and don’t guarantee any savings. They also say the cards and the overall law will be a political liability to Republicans in November.
“The Republican prescription-drug bill presents tremendous opportunities for Democratic candidates and is a political liability for the GOP in 2004 and beyond,” wrote Rep. Robert T. Matsui, California Democrat and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a memo this week to colleagues.
“The GOP is ramping up its PR [public-relations] machine to try to convince people these cards and their Medicare bill will address the high cost of prescription drugs. But the facts remain squarely at odds with those claims, and no amount of PR in the world will be able to fool seniors,” Mr. Matsui wrote.
Republicans countered that Democrats are upset because they have lost one of their key issues and are trying to score political points by spreading lies.
“They’re hoping the seniors — who they consider their political ’property’ — will believe them,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who helped craft the new Medicare drug law.
He said that the drug cards will clearly save seniors money and that “this is not the time or the issue to play politics … and to scare the seniors of America.”
The administration put out a memo Tuesday countering Democratic charges about the cards. It said CMS continues to work with sponsors, but that the Web-site numbers are accurate and “reflect the most that any senior can pay for a prescription drug under any given discount card — prices that were provided to CMS by the card sponsors.”
It also said that the cards are not confusing and that seniors can simply call 1-800-MEDICARE to talk to a person and receive personalized help to choose a card.
The discount cards are being offered through pharmacy and health care groups to seniors 65 and older and disabled people who receive Medicare, unless they already have Medicaid drug coverage. The government is coordinating the new program, which begins June 1 and runs until the end of 2005.
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