If welfare mothers had six months to sign up for a government program and missed the deadline, the political patriarchy would say, “Too bad,” and offer a stern lecture on personal responsibility. Elderly Americans were given the same time frame to enroll in the Medicare drug benefit, and many failed to do so. But leaders in Congress now want to waive their penalties for joining late.
This selective leniency reflects the reverence politicians hold for the elderly vote. It also shows the contempt with which they regard the taxpayers. The penalty was put into the program to ensure that Medicare Part D would be at least somewhat self-supporting.
There are two reasons why people who wanted the drug benefit missed the May 15 deadline. One is that they simply couldn’t make sense of the choices. The other is that they were too lazy to try.
The first group’s argument is somewhat compelling. The drug benefit is demonically complex. It resembles a 3-D chess game because Republicans insisted on cutting the insurers and drug makers into the deal. But beneficiaries must deal with the drug benefit they have. Anyone who wanted a simple, comprehensive Medicare drug program should have voted for Al Gore.
Frankly, if people couldn’t figure out which drug plan to join in six months, I don’t see why they would do better during the next six months. After all, they had at their disposal an army of free advisers from the government, pharmacies and senior citizens’ groups.
The penalty for enrolling after the deadline makes the program more financially stable because it encourages relatively healthy people to join. Without the penalty, many would wait until they needed a lot of expensive medications. The program was structured so that beneficiaries with low drug bills would help subsidize the others.
Sure, everyone wants an insurance plan that they can take out of but not put into. That may be how insurance works in heaven, but not down here.
An example: I have never been in a car accident, but every year I buy collision coverage. And I may never (knock wood) collect a dime from that policy. My insurer is selling me the promise that if I drive into a tree, it will pay for a new hood and fender.
No insurance company that cares to stay in business would let me buy collision coverage for an accident I’ve already had. The Medicare drug benefit does allow eligible people to put off enrolling until after they really need it – but at that higher premium.
Now, some people haven’t signed up for the drug benefit because they don’t want to. They may already have drug coverage from an employer. Some have chosen to enroll later but are prepared to pay the penalty. They understand that the longer they wait to join, the more their premiums will cost. Both groups are playing by the rules of the game, and so they’re fine.
That cannot be said of those who don’t want to join the insurance plan until they are poised to drain it – and not pay extra for the privilege. That, of course, is unfair to many people who’ve been putting money into the program since its Jan. 1 launch. (It’s also unfair to the tens of thousands who struggled at the last minute to meet the May 15 deadline.)
Congress knows no limits in indulging older voters, even the irresponsible ones. Those penalties were supposed to help pay for the program, which is now estimated to run us a tidy $872 billion through 2014. I guess the taxpayers always finish last.
So the Senate Finance Committee is now pushing to waive the penalty. “It takes time for people to learn about benefits available to them,” Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said with fatherly concern.
A year ago, when Grassley was tightening up federal bankruptcy law, he was less permissive. He condemned the “deadbeats” who “get out of paying their debt scot-free, while honest Americans who play by the rules have to foot the bill.” In Washington, the weight of the rules obviously depends on who is playing.
Froma Harrop is a Providence Journal columnist. Contact her by writing to fharrop@projo.com.
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