Waive penalties on Medicare Rx

Penalizing senior citizens who missed a deadline for enrolling in the confusing Medicare prescription-drug program is unreasonably punitive public policy. The penalty should be waived at least through the end of the year.

For many seniors, the program and penalty packed a one-two punch. First, the government created a convoluted plan that raised too many questions and answered too few, then it imposed a penalty on those who couldn't figure it out. The deadline passed Monday for selecting one of many drug benefits; seniors who sign up during the next registration process beginning in November are expected to be hit with a 7-percent lifetime penalty on annual premiums. That's unnecessary.

From the start, this program has been plagued by poor design and management and gaps in coverage that are confusing and scary to senior citizens.

In our own state, seniors had to choose from among 71 plans. Initially, a surprisingly small number of counselors in Medicare and other offices were available to handle telephone lines backed up with seniors who had questions about the program.

Still, millions of seniors signed up for a benefit rather than endure the penalty. Many others were so confused by the multitude of plans and their complicated details they failed to meet the deadline.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is offering legislation to waive the penalty at least for the rest of this year, and that is the correct course.

Be it political expediency — seniors vote — or a change of heart, Congress should get in front of this train rather than behind it.

For the first few months of the new program, a deadline backed by a monetary penalty served as an end point to compel procrastinators to make a decision. But this program was never soup or even broth.

Now that the deadline has passed, Congress should waive the penalty because it unduly harms senior citizens. Congress should admit it has gone too far and take steps to ease impacts on seniors.