$250 Medicare rebate checks criticized

Christine Bennett was pleasantly surprised when she received a $250 Medicare check late last year.

The 84-year-old Penn Hills woman was among 3 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 216,000 in Pennsylvania, who received checks. The one-time, tax-free benefit was designed to ease prescription drug costs for those who fell into Medicare's so-called "doughnut hole," a gap in prescription drug coverage that forces Medicare recipients to cover the entire cost of drugs.

Bennett, a diabetic who suffers from heart disease and asthma, takes five medications a day in addition to insulin. Late last year her drug costs put her in the hole.

"The check helped, but I'm not sure it's good," she said, adding she worried insurers and drug companies will simply see it as grounds to charge higher prices.

After consumers pay the first $300 for drugs, Medicare's coverage pays 75 percent of costs up to $2,840. After that, Medicare recipients must pay the entire bill until out-of-pocket costs reach $4,550. Then Medicare begins to pick up 95 percent under its catastrophic drug coverage plan.

Department of Health and Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday hailed the checks, part of last year's health-care law, as long overdue relief. Her comments occurred two days after House Republicans, in a largely symbolic move, voted to repeal the law.

Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, elected in November on a platform calling for repeal, dismissed the rebates as part of a flawed bill.

"The $250 rebate is nothing compared to the cost Americans, especially seniors, will incur as a result of this reckless bill," he said in a written statement, adding that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the law will increase premiums for Medicare's drug benefit as much as 9 percent.

Sebelius said the checks represent the first fruits of a law that will significantly help seniors.

"For too long, many seniors and people with disabilities have been forced to make impossible decisions between paying for needed prescription medication and necessities like food and rent," she said.

Rep. Tim Murphy of Upper St. Clair, co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, insisted estimates of cost savings are misleading.

"The new law does nothing to bring down costs and improve delivery of care in the Medicare program and it will absolutely result in costing everyone more money in the long run," he said.