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Mon 15 May, 2006 06:25 am
Quote:A pivotal Republican is joining the congressional drive to eliminate the financial penalty for people who miss Monday's deadline for enrolling in the Medicare drug benefit, the latest sign of a growing rebellion against President Bush on the issue.
Rep. Nancy Johnson said she has talked to enough colleagues to believe such a proposal would pass, probably in the fall, and plans to introduce legislation to waive the penalty.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/05/14/D8HJV0CO0.html
Personally, I think that Ms. Johnson's stand is simply a political ploy. The Democrats have been pushing for an extension of the time that people need to have to sign up for Medicare Part D before a penalty sets in, and she wants, IMO, to have a Republican voice in the mix.
Now, the media has been pushing the Medicare Part D Plan since the middle of last year. In my town, there are seminars a few times weekly put on by different providers to discuss the differences in the Part D plans. The newspapers have been carrying ads and articles about the Plan D, with references to places where one can get help if one is truly confused.
No matter how complex, (and it really isn't, once you catch on to the idea) there is no reason what a person could not have made a choice by now. Bottom line, some people have difficulty making decisions, and others like to wait until the last minute to do anything.
People have had many months to make that decision, and I would suspect that if the deadline were extended, on December 31st, there would still be people who would whine that they were confused.
IMO, that is no reason to extend the deadline. I think that if a person simply dragged his feet for all these months, too bad. They had ample opportunity to decide what they wanted to do.
Something just occurred to me. Suppose that the grace period were extended to September 1st. After that, anyone who was eligible for Plan D in 2006 would pay a hefty one time penalty, (in addition to the penalty for signing up late) I would bet the family fortune that people would be signing up in droves this summer.
I read some place that the penalty for late signers will be a 7 percent surcharge on what they purchase.
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