Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deane Beebe
Communications Director
212-204-6219
Medicare Rights CenterSeptember 21, 2005
Statement Regarding 2006 Medicare Part B Premium Hike New York, NY – 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 with Medicare 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.