Stop assessing penalties for the Medicare Prescription Plan for late enrollment. Retired people cannot afford the extra costs assessed to the premiums.
Why is this important?
When I retired in 2008, I was not told that the Medicare Prescription Plan was mandatory and I would be assessed penalties for not signing up. I was not on any medication at that time and saw no need to pay premiums to the insurance companies that I did not need. When I signed up with Medco in 2012, I was assessed a penalty for the period between 2008 and 2012. I feel this is very unfair. Especially since the amount they pay for prescriptions does not decrease my cost. By the way, I was paying 100% for any prescriptions I needed in that 4 year period. On a fixed income, it is very difficult to pay for all of these insurance premium and still have to pay the same amount for my prescriptions that I was paying before I signed on to the prescription paln.
