Quotes by Gail Shearer

“This is really about shifting costs to sicker people.”

“For young healthy people and families, they may well end up being the winners; the problem is somebody else is likely to be the loser.”

“Whenever you have confusion like this in the marketplace, it opens up opportunities for fraud. People will really have to make sure theyre dealing with reputable entities.”

“I realize that. But the potential payoff for seniors is so huge that we hope it will be a worthwhile investment for them.”

“For the Medicare drug benefit to continue without breaking the federal budget, it will be critical that medicines are prescribed based on their effectiveness and track record, not on advertising campaigns.”

“People are going to go untreated because of our failure to make sure that everybody has coverage.”

“Having Medicare drug coverage underscores the need for seniors to talk to doctors and pharmacists about switching to cost-effective drugs.”

“Even when you are enrolled in Medicare Part D, its really worth having that conversation with your doctor.”

“Many people are taking drugs that are highly advertised. They may ask doctors for them or the doctor may prescribe them without realizing the cost implications. Even for a person just switching one drug, they could save enough money to easily pay for the premium of their Part D plan.”

“What those numbers do is cry out for public policy makers to take this challenge very seriously.”