Senators Introduce Legislation to Waive Medicare Part D Enrollment Penalty

Unfair Penalty Would Leave Seniors Paying Even Higher Premiums for the Rest of Their Lives

Today, U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA), Max Baucus (D-MT), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Mike DeWine (R-OH) indicated that they will work together to waive the Medicare Part D  late enrollment penalty. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about this effort:

“We commend the bipartisan efforts of Senators Grassley, Baucus, DeWine, and Bill Nelson to waive the Medicare Part D late enrollment penalty fee for this year. This new legislation is a much needed fix for the ill-conceived policy that will levy penalties on seniors, who have been confused by this overly complicated new Medicare program.

“For a program that has had such a rocky start with so many problems and so much confusion, it makes no sense to penalize seniors who failed to enroll in the program by the May 15th deadline.

“It would be politically suicidal for members of Congress to dodge this bill and to allow this unfair penalty to be imposed on seniors. This is especially true since even CMS—the agency in charge of providing information to seniors—added to the confusion by often providing incomplete and inaccurate information to seniors.

“Seniors should not have to pay a penalty for the rest of their lives because Congress created a program that is so confusing and complex.”

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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.

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