Sen: Brown (D) To Hold Medicare Press Conference in Cleveland

An email from the campaign of Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Avon):

TUESDAY AUGUST 1
11:00 AM
Ernest J. Bohn Center
Cleveland, OH 44113

With enrollment in the Medicare Part D drug plans closed, seniors and people with disabilities are encountering new problems. Many Ohio seniors are being forced to pay full price for their prescription drugs because they have hit the doughnut hole – a gap in their plan’s coverage. As the insurance companies switch the drugs they cover, some Ohioans are finding that their plan has dropped the drugs they need. Those seniors who missed the May 15 enrollment deadline are blocked out of coverage until 2007.

Congressman Brown will outline his plans to provide a simple, affordable benefit that requires Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices – like the VA does. Instead of producing windfall profits for the pharmaceutical industry, Brown’s plan would provide seniors and people with disabilities a windfall savings.

Brown will be joined by Ohio seniors and people with disabilities who have fallen into the doughnut hole, whose drug costs have gone up, and who will face late enrollment penalties when they choose a plan.