On Medicare – Part D

WHEREAS the Bush administration’s Medicare-Part D is confusing, costs seniors at least $3,750 out of their first $5,250 in pharmaceutical costs, forbids the federal government to bargain over the costs of drugs it’s paying for, and does not guarantee participating seniors that the program will cover the specific drugs they need to live; and

WHEREAS insurance companies will penalize seniors and the disabled who do not join the program by May 15, 2006, by adding 1% late fee for each month past the deadline (i.e. 12% for a year, 24% for two years, etc.); and

WHEREAS the costs of the program were deliberately misrepresented to Congress and will escalate continually constantly inflating the national debt which was declining when President Clinton was President.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the California Democratic Council, meeting in convention in Santa Clara on March 24-26, 2006, urges Congress to rescind Medicare-Part D and substitute a plan administered by Medicare instead of the insurance companies; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED this resolution be sent to California Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, California Congressional Representatives, the California Democratic Party, and the Democratic National Committee.